New GOP chairman

You may have missed it Friday, but the Republican National Committee replaced Chairman Michael Steele with Reince Priebus, the former chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party. National GOPers are banking on Priebus to erase the party’s $22 million debt while simultaneously revving up the fundraising machinery for the 2012 election cycle — when political history’s most prodigious fund raiser, President Obama, will be leading the charge for Democrats. Some estimate Republicans will need to raise $400 million the next two years if they hope to retake the Senate and defeat Obama. That’s a lot of cabbage. Steele fell out of favor primarily because of fundraising problems, the national committee’s spending priorities and uncertain leadership with the rise of the Tea Party movement. One of Priebus’ challenges will be managing cooperation between the ideological cousins while restoring confidence in the GOP among some of its biggest donors. Priebus comes to the job having managed a Republican resurgence in the Badger State that toppled incumbent Democrat Sen. Russ Feingold and reclaimed the governor’s mansion last fall.

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