In his liveblog, NRO’s Jim Geraghty notes that in addition to the other weighty questions hanging over this balloting for the chairman of the RNC who will lead the party out of the political wilderness …
the RNC has to be out of the ballroom by 5 p.m. because a wedding is slated to use the room starting at 5:30. Besides the RNC Chair, the RNC has to elect several other positions, including co-chair, secretary, and treasurer.
Mitt Romney starts flogging the House GOP’s already-discredited Stimulus numbers.
Racial backlash candidate Katon Dawson moves into slim lead on 4th round of balloting.
Blackwell drops out and endorses Michael Steele.
(ed.note: It’s always important to know a news organization’s biases. And we try to be up front about them. In this case, it’s probably fair to say we have some inherent bias in favor of the comedic potential of a Katon Dawson victory. Nonetheless, we will try to stick to just the facts.)
Michael Steele wins over racial backlash candidate Dawson.
Late Update: On a more entertaining front, they’re now rushing through votes for several lower-ranking offices because they have to vacate the hall by 5 pm to make room for a wedding party that gets it next.
Latter Update: Reminds me of the good old days in 2006 when Steele’s senate campaign rolled out signs to fool people into thinking he was a Democrat.
Special You of All Folks Update: I’d almost forgotten this special moment back in 2006 when Steele had the bright idea of telling the Baltimore Jewish Council in a Q&A session that stem cell research was sort of like the Holocaust. “Look, you of all folks know what happens when people decide they want to experiment on human beings, when they want to take your life and use it as a tool.”
“We need a bottoms up party” — as yet unidentified state party chair speaking at the RNC meeting.
Obama for America, the White House’s outside political group, has just announced a round of nationwide Stimulus Bill house parties. Will.i.am apparently also prepping a Stimulus bill song and video.
Okay, I made up the last part.
We already noted that the House GOP Stimulus plan job creation estimates turn out to be complete nonsense. Now it turns out, at least according to some House Democratic staffers, that the GOP plan was rushed together so hastily that it actually includes tax increases for lots of Americans.