North Dakota Republicans Successful In Forcing Full Meeting Of RNC To Pick Next Leader

After two straight drubbings in elections – 2006 and now 2008 – Republicans need a change in leadership. Unfortunately, many in the national party don’t want a change. They want the maintain the status quo and tried to pull a sneaky move by holding a closed-door meeting about who will be the next leader of the RNC without inviting all members of the Republican National Committee.
Thankfully, NDGOP Chairman Gary Emineth and Republican National Committeeman from North Dakota Curly Haugland stepped in to make sure that all Republicans in America are represented in this selection process.

(CNN) — Members of the Republican National Committee are planning to hold a Washington forum for candidates to lead the party – the first time they have held an official meeting not arranged by the national party.
The meeting, first reported by The Hill, was the brainchild of North Dakota Republican Party chairman Gary Emineth and nearly two dozen RNC members from 18 states, according to the RNC counsel’s office.
Most of those are supporters of one of the challengers to current RNC chair Mike Duncan. The newly-scheduled forum – which was not arranged by national leadership, headed by Duncan — may give a boost to these candidates, who will get an opportunity to make their pitch to the members of the national committee.

On Friday I interviewed Curly Haugland for AM1100 WZFG and at the time he and Gary had until midnight to get enough RNC members on board with a full meeting to make it happen. Clearly they were successful, and good on them for it.
This is a step in the right direction, but I fear there is a storm brewing between not-so-conservative, beltway Republicans who don’t want to move the party back to its conservative roots (which I firmly believe is where the party needs to go to win elections) and rank-and-file conservatives who want a return to the limited government ideals Republicanism was about in the days of Goldwater and Reagan. It’s going to get uglier before it gets better, I’m afraid, but one good step in the right direction would be a good, solidly conservative leader for the RNC.
Hopefully that’s the ultimate outcome from Gary and Curly’s hard work.