RNC Rumors Flying

Amanda Carpenter | January 26, 2009 2:28 PM

Republican National Committee Chairman candidate Michael Steele blasted out an eye-opening email to RNC members today, days before the hotly contested election for the post will take place.

Apparently, a "senior Republican official" phoned Steele to see if he would make an alliance current Chairman Robert "Mike" Duncan for election, which some say could take as many as six ballots to settle. Steele said he turned the deal down and now he's being accused of joining forces with Duncan.

Sounds like a set-up to me, what a mess.

Erik Erikson over at RedState wrote today:"My understanding is that Mike Duncan and Michael Steele are in the process of cutting a deal. If Duncan cannot get enough strength to get an outright victory or at least victory on the second ballot, he may swing his support to Steele. Likewise, Michael Steele is said to be amenable to the idea of throwing his support to Duncan on the second ballot if Duncan gets close on the first.

Steele is flatly denying this. Here's what Steele's email said:

Dear RNC Members:

Welcome to fun week!

Just a quick note from me to knock down a silly rumor. Several blogs today erroneously reported that I am making a deal with Chairman Mike Duncan.

As I’m sure you know, this is absurd, complete fiction. I’m running for Chairman, not for deal-maker.

Here is what is true -- this weekend a senior Republican official called me to offer me some sort of power-sharing deal with Chairman Duncan.

I completely dismissed the concept out of hand, interrupting before the deal could even be fully articulated, and thanked the gentleman for calling.

I’ve always felt that the best way to deal with silliness like this is to address it straight up.

I look forward to seeing all of you this week.

--Michael Steele