Reince Priebus elected to succeed Steele as RNC chairman
By Holly Bailey - Fri Jan 14, 5:29 pm ET
After nearly four hours of voting, Wisconsin GOP chair Reince Priebus was elected the new chairman of the Republican National Committee.
"I can't wait to get to work ... and rebuild this party," Priebus said. "We all recognize there is a steep hill ahead of us, and the only way we can move forward is together."
(Photo of Priebus: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)
He succeeds Michael Steele, who bowed out of his bid for a second term after he failed to make gains through several rounds of voting. Priebus is a former close ally of Steele, who headed up his RNC chair campaign back in 2009.
As chairman of the Wisconsin GOP, Priebus was widely praised within the party for helping Republicans claim one of its biggest wins of the 2010 midterms: the defeat of incumbent Sen. Russ Feingold in the state's hotly contested Senate race.
Priebus had been considered a front-runner early on in the RNC race, in part because his candidacy had been publicly and privately championed by Republicans close to Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, an influential former RNC chair who is exploring a 2012 presidential bid.
In recent weeks, Priebus had talked up his credentials as a solid party fundraiser, which is likely to be the main job of the RNC chairman over the next two years. According to a report presented to RNC members Friday, the party is more than $21 million in debt heading into the 2012 presidential race and likely won't emerge from the red this year.
Already, the RNC has been forced to lay off nearly 70 staffers in recent weeks, and as party officials warned Friday, more cuts are likely to come, amid the party's dismal financial prospects.
Addressing the party's financial troubles, Priebus vowed to come up with "a solid business plan that will restore the faith of donors."
"I will earn your trust every day," he declared.
news.yahoo.com
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