Crowded Field Vies For Republican Party Chair

WASHINGTON (Nov. 22) -- The list of candidates is growing as the race for Republican party chairman begins in earnest, and a good bit of infighting between now and January can be expected.

After two terms as GOP chairman, Haley Barbour steps down in January. Party pros say he could be a tough act to follow.

Says Republican strategist Ron Kaufman: "Haley did a spectacular job on about five or six different levels of raising the stature of the chairman of the RNC."

Barbour has been a big time fund-raiser and an effective party spokesman. Veteran GOP operatives also call him a good day-to-day manager who has worked well with GOP leaders on Capitol Hill and in the states.

Barbour helped lift the party from George Bush's re-election defeat in 1992 to majorities in both houses of Congress in 1994. And though Bob Dole lost his White House bid, Barbour doesn't get much of the blame for that.

But if his shoes will be difficult to fill, there is no shortage of feet.

Two of them belong to New Hampshire Gov. Steve Merrill, the biggest name to declare so far. A national co-chairman of the Dole campaign, Merrill leaves office next month and appears ready to spend the most money campaigning for the job. He goes to this week's Republican governors meeting in Michigan lobbying for support.

But it's a wide open field.

Bob Bennett, the chairman of the Ohio Republican party, has declared his candidacy; he vows to build a GOP from the grassroots up. Bennett is one of at least five RNC members expected to run.

The others: General Counsel David Norcross, probably the most familiar with party operations; Committeemen Chuck Yob of Michigan, who has announced; and Jim Nicholson of Colorado who says he intends to.

California Republican chairman John Herrington tells CNN he will be a candidate as well. Former RNC co-chair Jeannie Austin says she, too, is running, possibly banking on the need for the GOP to address its gender gap. The list could get longer.

There is no clear front-runner, but because RNC committee members themselves select their leader, there is reason to follow the inside track.

"My bet would be, it would be inside because it is someone from inside who has, in fact, that personal knowledge," predicts former Republican chairman Frank Fahrenkopf. "We faced this four years ago, when Haley ran. Haley was from inside. There were very strong people, two United States senators who ran against him."

Then there is geography. With a southern-based party leadership on Capitol Hill, the Republicans may look for a chairman with a different accent. This month's loss of GOP House seats in the Northeast could shift the focus there.

The Republican National Committee meets to decide all this in mid-January here in Washington. If there is no consensus candidate by then, it will be only the third contested election for RNC chairman since 1977.

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Crowded Field Vies For Republican Party Chair

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