Friday, December 5, 2008
News Disharmony inside GOP over state leadership
Posted by Scott Henry @ScottTheHenry on Fri, Dec 5, 2008 at 10:00 PM
There's a rumor going around (mostly peddled by Peach Pundit's Erick Erickson) that Rusty Paul, a former state Republican Party head, has been trying to build support for a potential bid to unseat Sue Everhart, the current GOP chairwoman.
Paul says it ain't so.
"I have not made a single call to a single person seeking support for a run for party chair," says Paul, who already serves on the Sandy Springs City Council and runs his own political consulting business.
But, as is often the case, the rumor may have the details wrong, but it's on target with regard to the underlying issue. Fact is, there's a rift in the party right now over what went wrong during the lackluster election season.
Sure, the state GOP eventually managed to hang on to the U.S. Senate and PSC seats, and didn't lose any ground in Congress, despite facing a top-o-the-ticket threat from the Obaminator. But Georgia is still a really red state and a sitting Republican senator who hadn't been caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy arguably shouldn't have been caught in a runoff, either.
There's debate over who deserves more blame for Saxby's runoff scare: veteran campaign mastermind Tom Perdue (who gets Erickson's vote) or Everhart, the titular head of the state party.
By most accounts, Everhart is an unpolished GOP street fighter who worked her way up through the party's ranks though sweat and diligence, but who has little talent for diplomacy. The knock against her is that, while she has experience working on the grassroots level, she lacks the organizational ability to put together the kind of state-wide strategy that will be needed to stop the advances of an energized Democratic Party.
The blame game may have started in earnest the night of the runoff, when Tom Perdue reportedly blocked Everhart from stepping on stage for Chambliss' victory speech. (The AJC's Jim Galloway has a juicy missive describing the event.)
Chuck Clay, another former state GOP chairman, says post-election complaining is nothing new for party members who, he jokes, spend half their time "debating what it means to be a real Republican."
However, the rancor and recriminations seem louder and deeper this time than any we can recall. Perhaps it's because the national GOP just lost the White House and is facing a long, painful recovery. Maybe Everhart's hard-charging personality rubs some people the wrong way. Or it could be that infighting between the lame-duck governor and Legislative leaders has left the GOP rank-and-file yearning for a strong, reassuring leader.
Will the party be able to settle its internal differences and get its act together? Stay tuned…
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