Under the rules of the party, the RNC Chair must stand for reelection every two years, and the time for Chairman Reince Priebus’s first term is drawing to a close. Will he run for a second? The early signs would seem to indicate he will.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus will make an announcement next week about whether he’ll seek another term, but he’s leaning toward launching a second campaign at the helm, sources told POLITICO.

Questions about Priebus’s intentions come as the party starts to look inward after a shellacking at the ballot box in the presidential race, and in a wide swath of Senate contests last Tuesday.

There are a variety of duties which the Chairmen must perform, and not all of them can be measured with pure math. He is occasionally called upon to speak for the party, address the media and build effective teams around the entire nation for the purpose of winning races up and down the ticket. There are also some of the aforementioned hard metrics as well. These include fundraising and the actual winning of elections. He’s had a very impressive record on the former, but as to the latter… well, see last Tuesday.

More on the pros and cons from Matt Lewis.

Ironically, the argument for Priebus’ re-election is similar to the case Obama’s re-election: “He inherited a mess at the RNC,” says Henry Barbour.

Sound familiar?

Interestingly, former Chair Michael Steele — despite the drama — had much better success (in terms of actually getting Republicans elected.) But comparing a midterm election to a presidential is like comparing apples and oranges.

There’s something to be said for that. The demands of the national race are different than a patchwork of individual contests. And on the subjective matters I have been continually impressed by Priebus’ performance. Frankly, I see no reason to consider tossing him under the bus. But as Matt noted, there is no denying the reality of the 2012 election results – not just in the Presidential race, where the candidate bears the brunt of responsibility, but also for the Senate and House races where the party underperformed as well.

Could Priebus have done anything better or differently? Do you guys think we need to be shopping around for a new chair or stick with the experienced hand we have on the wheel now?