“I’m looking for what the alternatives are,” said Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.), who raised millions of dollars for conservative Senate candidates last cycle and is flirting with running for president in 2012. “I appreciate his service, but 2012 is real important.”

Senate Republican Policy Committee Chairman John Thune, who is the fourth-ranking Senate Republican and is actively considering a presidential bid, also suggested during a brief interview that he would like to see a new RNC chairman assume office next year…

“Those of us who are not members of the committee don’t have a vote in this situation. But I think that we obviously have a stake in the outcome,” Thune said. “I think we want to make sure that whoever leads the RNC in the next couple of years is capable of raising the resources that will be necessary to make sure we can run winning campaigns — and I think that’s the issue, probably, that [Steele] will have to answer about.”