Steele to Republicans Who Support Obama: ‘We’ll Come After You’

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports: RNC Chairman Michael Steelehas beenendorsing a “big tent” approach to recruiting candidates for 2010, emphasizing the need to find candidates who fit the needs of individual districts.

But on ABCNews.com’s “Top Line” today, Steele made clear there are limits to how far candidates can push the party’s limits.

Asked if he’d be comfortable with Republican candidates in 2010 who supported President Obama’s stimulus package, or his push to overhaul health care, Steele said:

“Well I’m gonna tell you honestly, that’s where the line gets a little bit tricky. And you saw in the House and in the Senate that there are ramifications, because that goes against a core principle. And trust me, you’re assuming that people want to have bloated debt, government expenditures and growth into their lives — they don’t. That’s a talking point out of the DNC.”

“People aren’t buying that. So candidates who live in moderate to slightly liberal districts have got to walk a little bit carefully here, because you do not want to put yourself in a position where you’re crossing that line on conservative principles, fiscal principles, because we’ll come after you,” Steele continued.

“You’re gonna find yourself in a very tough hole if you’re arguing for the president’s stimulus plan or Nancy Pelosi’s health plan. There’s no justification for growing the size of government the way this administration and this Congress wants to do it.”

Steele didn’t mention any candidates by name. But the comments could be interpreted as a warning shot aimed at Republicans who have voiced support for the stimulus — like Gov. Charlie Crist, R-Fla., who’s running for governor next year in a competitive primary — or who, like Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, are supporting health care reform efforts.

Crist told CNN earlier this week that he never endorsed the stimulus package, and that he voiced support for it only because he was simply trying to get the best deal for Florida, given that the stimulus was headed for passage in Washington. However, given Crist’s sharing a stage with President Obama to trumpet the stimulus package and his publicly stated support for it, it will no doubt continue to dog him in his competitive primary against Marco Rubio no matter how strenuously he attempts to walk it back.

Steele also disputed the contention by White House senior adviser David Axelrod that 2009 wasn’t a referendum on the president’s policies, but that 2010 will be.

“You have the president going into New Jersey four times, and you’re going to then sit back after we kick your butt and say, ‘Well, no, this had nothing to do with the president?’ Well why was he there?” Steele said.

“And you can’t sit back at the same time and say … the only reason we’re losing is because our base isn’t excited so pass this horrendous health care bill. And that will excite them? They’re not excited because they’re fearful that you’re going to pass this horrendous health care bill because this is not the change that they voted for. They’ve missed that point.”

“So don’t get in front of the White House lawn and give me this sort of disingenuous, ‘Oh well, you know, ’09 isn’t about the president, 2010 is going to be about passing our agenda and that way people will be excited again.’ They’re not excited because they’re fearful of what it is you want to pass.”

Watch our full interview withthe RNC chairmanHERE.

UPDATE: The Democratic National Committee jumped on the interview after it aired, saying that Steele is tying himself to “extremist” elements inside the Republican Party:

“With today's threat to 'come after' moderate Republicans or those that would work for bipartisan solutions, it's clear the Michael Steele and the Republican party are ready to hand over the keys of the GOP to Michele Bachmann, Glenn Beck and the rest of the extremist tea party crowd,” DNC spokesman Hari Sevugan said in a statement.

“And in establishing a policy of purging moderates, the Republicans have committed themselves to being an extreme ideological party that will only turn-off independent voters and further marginalize an already isolated party going into 2010 and beyond.”

ABC News? David Chalian Reports: Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele doesn?t want the controversies and scandals surrounding a couple of high profile Republicans to be used as part of a ?broad brush sweep? depiction of the GOP at large.

?I don?t buy this broad brush sweep that a lot of folks want to do to take situations involving Sanford or Palin and make it writ large for every Republican in the country,? Steele said on ABC News? ?Top Line.?

Chairman Steele responded to a question about the four Republicans, including former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) and Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC), he cited as rising stars in the party during a Fox News interview last February.

?If I knew what I know now, then, my answer probably would have been a little bit different. I certainly wouldn?t have put Sanford up as one of those stars of the party that were going to be looked to leadership because he?s got other issues he?s got to deal with,? said Steele.

Mr. Steele called former Gov. Sarah Palin?s (R-AK) decision to resign her office in the middle of her first term a personal and political decision he respects.

?She made a very personal, a very political decision for her to get out of the way of her state moving forward because her leadership had become a distraction with all the media attention and the attacks,? Steele said. ?She made, I think, a very personal decision. I respect that,? he added.

The GOP chairman argued his point by questioning if Democratic politicians should have had their reputations besmirched in the 1990s by Bill Clinton?s behavior.

?When the president, the former president of the united states is caught with an intern in his, underneath his desk, does that impugn every Democrat in the country?,? Steele asked.

Praising Republican candidates running for office across the country, including his party?s gubernatorial candidates in New Jersey and Virginia, Chairman Steele said he feels good about the current state of the GOP. ?We have a lot of work to do. We have a long way to go. But I feel good about where we are.?

To read the transcript of our interview with Michael Steele, click HERE.

ABC News’ Teddy Davis contributed to this report.

Steele: Palin ‘Will Be Helpful’ in ’09 Gov’s Races

ABC News' Rick Klein reports: RepublicanNational CommitteeChairman Michael Steele tonight said he plans to get in touch with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin soon — and indicated that he wants her help in the off-year gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia.

“I plan on talking to Gov. Palin very soon,” Steele said in a written statement. “She is an important and galvanizing voice in the Republican Party. I believe she will be very helpful to the party this year as we wage critical campaigns in Virginia and New Jersey. I am certain this has been a difficult decision for her to step down as Alaska's governor. She has been a good governor for her state and I wish her and the Palin family the best during this transition.”

Steele on Romney: GOP Base ‘Rejected’ Romney in 2008 Presidential Race

ABC News’ Matt Stuart reports: RNC Chairman Michael Steele is drawing attention for claiming that the Republican base “rejected” former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

In a clip posted on the Think Progress website, while Steele was guest hosting the Bill Bennett radio show last Friday, a caller claimed that Romney could have beaten President Obama in the general election. Steele responded boldly that, “it was the base that rejected Mitt because of his switch on pro-life, from pro-choice to pro-life.” Steele went on to say that the base “had issues with Mormonism,” and “made clear they had issues with Mitt because if they didn’t, he would have defeated John McCain.”

Today, Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom kept his response to a minimum. “Sometimes when you shoot from the hip you miss the target. This is one of those times.”

Since dropping out of the race, Romney has remained active in the Republican party through his Free and Strong America PAC. Romney supported Sen. John McCain’s campaign and, more recently, participated in the National Council for a New America, a group aimed at re-focusing the Republican party, fueling speculation that he is planning another run in 2012.

GOP’s Steele Touts Four Rising Stars

ABC News’ Teddy Davis reports:

 

R.N.C. Chair Michael Steele is touting Govs. Bobby Jindal (La.), Mark Sanford (S.C.), Tim Pawlenty (Minn.), and Sarah Palin (Alaska) as rising stars. Ferdous Al-Faruque/ ABC News

 

Newly elected GOP chair Michael Steele is touting four Republicans under the age of 50 as rising stars in the party.

“I’d say certainly Bobby Jindal, Governor Sanford, Pawlenty, Palin,” Steele said Sunday. “We have a whole host of folks out there who are beginning to emerge on the scene and will over the next couple of years I think redefine this party in a way that will be very good for us long term.”

Steele, who was elected chair of the Republican National Committee on Friday, heaped praise on the governors of Louisiana, South Carolina, Minnesota, and Alaska during a Sunday interview with Fox’s Chris Wallace.

The RNC chair was specifically asked to name three Republian leaders under the age of 50 whom he sees as “new faces.”

He ended up providing four names, all of them governors.

Jindal, 37, is the youngest Republican on Steele’s list. The Louisiana governor, who is up for re-election in 2011, has signaled that he will not run for president in 2012. But he continues to be a big draw for his party. In March, he is scheduled to headline the National Republican Congressional Committee’s fundraising dinner. Shortly after last year’s election, he popped up in Iowa, prompting pundits to ask if he is the GOP’s version of Barack Obama. A former Rhodes scholar, Jindal is well versed in health care. Before being elected to Congress in 2004, he served as secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals and later served as executive director of a 17-member panel charged with devising plans to reform Medicare. In 2001, he was appointed Assistant Secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Grover Norquist, the president of the conservative Americans for Tax Reform, lauds Jindal’s work on lowering taxes and government transparency and confidently predicts that the Roman Catholic son of Indian immigrants will one day be president.

Sanford, 48, is a low-tax, low-spending conservative who is not afraid to clash with his own party. In the wake of the GOP’s drubbing at the polls last year, Sanford has been arguing that “America didn’t turn away from conservatism, they turned away from many who faked it.” He is an outspoken opponent of the economic stimulus package. “Borrowing from Medicare, Social Security, our grandkids and the Chinese to remedy a problem created by too much borrowing strikes me as odd, and hardly the ‘change’ Americans really want,” wrote Sanford in a post-election op-ed for CNN.com. He is using his position as chairman of the Republican Governors Association to increase his visibility around the country. Later this month, he is slated to address California’s Republican Party convention in Sacramento.

Pawlenty, 48, identifies himself as hailing from the “Sam’s Club” wing of the Republican Party. “We want to be the party of Sam’s Club, not jut the country club,” Pawlenty is fond of saying. On economics, the son-of-a-truck-driver wraps his proposals under the theme of delivering better “value” for middle-class families. During last year’s campaign, he voiced support for the bailout of the financial industry. He now is taking a more populist tack. “In Washington,” Pawlenty said during last month’s State of the State address, “they’re sending billions of dollars to Wall Street. Here in Minnesota, I want us committed to helping Main Street.” Pawlenty used his annual speech to urge state lawmakers to cut Minnesota’s corporate tax rate in half.

Palin, 44, is by far the best known on Steele’s list. During her vice presidential run last year, the Alaska governor consistently drew much larger crowds than Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. She recently launched a federal Political Action Committee, SarahPAC, that she can use to dole out money to candidates around the country. The organization’s mission statement highlights her work on energy independence, an issue she has focused on in Alaska. As the mother of a baby with special needs, she has a strong reservoir of support among abortion rights opponents. The downside of the exposure that Palin received last year is that 60 percent of voters did not believe she was qualified to be president on Election Day 2008, according to the exit poll conducted by a consortium of news organizations.

ABC News’ David Chalian and Ferdous Al-Faruque contributed to this report.

Blackwell Drops Out — Endorses Steele

ABC News’ Rick Klein Reports: Big movement in advance of the fifth ballot in the RNC chairman’s race: Ken Blackwell just dropped out and endorsed Michael Steele’s candidacy.

We’ll see how many of Blackwell’s followers take his cues — but this is a potentially big chunk of votes for Steele to tap into

Steele Surge Continues

ABC News’ Teddy Davis Reports:

Michael Steele is coming on strong. Here are the results from Round Three:

Former MD Lt. Gov. Michael Steele: 51

Current RNC Chair Mike Duncan: 44

SC GOP Chairman Katon Dawson: 34

MI GOP Chairman Saul Anuzis : 24

Former OH Secretary of State Ken Blackwell: 15

Steele Draws Close

ABC News’ Rick Klein Reports: Michael Steele fell just six votes shy of being elected RNC chairman in the fifth round of balloting Friday afternoon.

Steele garnered 79 votes, 10 more than Katon Dawson’s 69.

All eyes will now be Saul Anuzis, the chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, a distant third place with just 20 votes. Steele picked up the endorsement of Ken Blackwell after the last round of voting, and Anuzis could effectively put him over the top.

Anuzis just withdrew — but did not endorse either candidate publicly. This means the next round of voting will almost certainly be the last.