GOP will keep Steele on despite comments on war

WASHINGTON - Michael Steele is staying put as Republican Party chairman. Despite his widely condemned comments on Afghanistan, even his GOP critics want to avoid a drawn-out fight over the party's most prominent African American just four months before midterm elections.

Instead, GOP elders are working around Steele, illustrating their lack of confidence in his leadership of the Republican National Committee and the challenge he would face should he seek a second term in January.

The outspoken Steele has faced calls for his resignation from conservatives and some in the GOP after he said that the nine-year-old conflict in Afghanistan was a mistaken "war of Obama's choosing." So far, Steele has ignored demands for him to step down.

Interviews with more than a dozen party operatives indicate there is little desire to wage a complicated, perhaps uncertain, effort to oust him with just six months left in his two-year term.

"Everyone is basically working around him," said former GOP Rep. Vin Weber of Minnesota, who added that Steele has marginalized himself further with every gaffe.

"In a very strange way," Weber said, "that gives him some protection because there's no urgency to replace him - no matter how grave of a misstep he made."

Most Republicans interviewed spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid openly criticizing a chairman who, despite his troubles, controls resources needed for the fall, like the party's voter lists.

These Republicans say that even critics are resigned to the fact that Steele will remain chairman through the fall. They say firing Steele now is difficult because at least two-thirds of committee members would have to vote to remove him, and he maintains a level of support, albeit diminishing, because of money he has distributed to state parties.

The GOP also could pay a political price. Trying to oust Steele could be an unwanted spectacle at a pivotal juncture, with weeks of headlines of Republicans in disarray heading into elections where the party is favored to win seats in Congress and governors' races.

Even a Republican considering challenging Steele says he would wait until next year. "I don't necessarily feel you should change horses in the middle of a race," former North Dakota Republican Chairman Gary Emineth said.

Come January, however, Steele likely will face a serious reelection challenge as the party gears up for the 2012 presidential race. Some Republicans say chances are slim that he wins a second term.

GOP heavyweights and campaign committees have stepped up their activity to fill a void created by what they call Steele's ineffectiveness.

Seizing on changes in campaign-finance law, some party insiders created a fund-raising effort to run TV ads and turn out voters this fall. Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie, a former Republican Party chairman, launched American Crossroads with a goal of raising more than $50 million by November. The group brought in $8.5 million in June.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour also recently suggested that donors give to his Republican Governors Association for its 37 races this fall, saying Steele's organization can't be trusted with donors' money. The effort to redirect donors seems to have paid off; Barbour brought in $19 million during a three-month period.