The Hidden Talents of Reince Priebus

posted at 8:53 am on February 21, 2011 by Jazz Shaw
[ Politics ]   

Hey, remember when a new RNC Chairman was elected? Neither do a lot of other people from the look of the 24 hour news beast. But that doesn’t mean that he hasn’t been busy.

The Republican National Committee raised $5.7 million in January, and new Chairman Reince Priebus said Sunday that $3.5 million of the total came in after his election Jan. 14.

“We owe a lot of our success to major donors who helped us reach 180 percent of our monthly major donor goal, and we were able to accomplish that in the last two weeks of January,” Priebus said in a statement. “I am thankful for the outpouring of support I’ve seen over the past month, from both long-time and first-time donors, but we have a lot of work to do.”

Priebus has been working to restore confidence among major donors and dig out from under the debt created during the 2010 election cycle. The RNC had $21.4 million in debt and only $2.1 million on hand by the end of the month, according to disclosure forms filed Sunday to the Federal Election Commission.

Yes, the total numbers on the balance sheet still look bad, but they’re a whole lot better than they were at New Years, and they’re heading in the correct direction. But what of the new chairman? Why isn’t he in the news? Why isn’t he making the rounds of every political hack with a camera? Is the man invisible?

Yes. Well… very nearly. And if you think that’s a bad thing, I’ve got a bridge to sell you. Priebus is doing precisely what an RNC chair is supposed to be doing. He’s mending fences, bringing the big dollar donors back to the fold, raising money and quietly organizing his forces for the next cycle.

The media is left with little to chew on. Even Jon Stewart of The Daily Show has only managed to do one segment on him since he took office, and that was just to complain that they had nothing to make fun of except his name. (A joke which even Stewart admitted had worn thin after one session.)

An ideal RNC chair is one who you rarely hear of, with most of the country barely remembering his name, who does precisely what Priebus is doing. Is he “in hiding?” If you choose to think of it that way, fine. But it’s a damn fine job of hiding and working efficiently. I think this guy gets it.

Now you can yell at Jazz for being a stupid, wrong-headed RINO even faster than by leaving a comment. Follow him on Twitter! @JazzShaw

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