Current Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan is fighting for his political life after being outmanuvered by his opponents this week.

From the Politico

At the end of a week that could have proved fatal to his reelection campaign, Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan is still alive, but the GOP veteran is using every advantage of his incumbency to keep party rivals at bay.

In a race that pits five energetic challengers against him, Duncan is relying more and more on his status as the ultimate RNC insider to defend his position on a restive committee. Though the RNC’s fundraising flourished during the 2008 cycle, the GOP lost 21 House seats and at least seven Senate seats in an election that left many Republican activists looking for a new leader.

The week’s three major RNC events in Washington — a televised debate hosted by the advocacy group Americans for Tax Reform, a series of closed-door candidate interviews run by a caucus of RNC conservatives, and an unofficial meeting of the full RNC Wednesday — threatened Duncan’s political future by thrusting the camera-shy chairman into direct, public confrontation with his opponents.

Under normal circumstances any chairman who presides over an embarrassing election defeat would resign and clear the way for new leadership.  Instead of quietly bowing out Duncan is fighting for another term, but is facing some very formidable opponents who are likely to defeat the charisma challenged chairman.

 

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