The blood from the 2006 midterm election has barely dried on the floor, but the battle for the 2008 GOP Presidential nomination is fully engaged. In Michigan, Sen. John McCain attempted to oust the state party chairman, who had ties - albeit circuitous - to Gov. Mitt Romney in the past. Jim Geraghty reports for the New York Sun:
As one Michigan consultant put it, "If there are three tickets out of Iowa, two out of New Hampshire, and the two fight like cats and dogs in South Carolina, Michigan will either ratify those results or turn the race upside down. If McCain were to lose Michigan, he would fall to pieces. And if Romney can't win in Michigan, people will ask if he can win anywhere."
One front in the McCain-Romney fight centers on the state's current Republican Party chairman, Saul Anuzis.The day after this year's elections, Mr. Anuzis wrote a letter to state Republicans declaring, "There is a campaign underway to 'find' a new Chairman. Just for your information, they are planning to have Dave Dishaw replace me."
Some Michiganders close to Mr. McCain sought to see Mr. Anuzis replaced at the next state party convention in February after this year's disappointing elections, but after several weeks of behind-the-scenes arm-twisting, it appears that effort has fallen short.
"I don't think there's any fight going on, that's sort of been settled," said the state's Republican National Committeeman, Charles Yob, who is a McCain ally. "You have election that goes bad, there are a lot of dos and don'ts. But it's been worked out."
The editor of the conservative group blog RedState, Erick Erickson, who is a fan of Mr. Anuzis, contends that McCain allies launched a whisper campaign against the chairman, and that several individuals joined RedState using pseudonyms to post blog entries criticizing the state chairman -- two of them using an identical IP address (the same computer).
Read the whole article at the link above. Hat-tip to NRO's TKS for pointing to this story. Or, pointing to his story.
;-)
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2008 Presidential Race, McCain, Romney
