Republican National Committee

Washington -- Former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee is about to take a big step toward a formal presidential campaign, a move that will shake up the unsettled Republican field and throw a wild card into the competition for the GOP's conservative core. This week, Thompson asked supporters to begin collecting campaign donations on June 4, after he files papers with the Federal Election Commission to establish a political committee to "test the waters" for a White House bid. The move is the clearest signal to date that Thompson, best-known for playing a gruff district attorney on Law & Order, is shelving his reluctance to join the race.

When its bull roast ended $300 in the red and enough cash wasn't left over to start a direct-mail campaign, a Carroll County Republican group decided to try a new fund-raising strategy that would show support for gun owners: raffle a 9 mm pistol.But the group's plan has drawn criticism from state GOP leaders, who consider the gun raffle ill-timed and improper.The Carroll County Republican Central Committee is selling $5 tickets for a chance to win a Beretta 9 mm pistol and a copy of "More Guns, Less Crime," a book by University of Chicago Professor John Lott, who argues that crime could be reduced if more citizens carried guns.

A GOP proposal to reach out to independent votersAs a two-time Republican nominee for governor, I thought it important to share my views on a proposal that would allow independent voters to participate in Maryland's Republican presidential primary next March.If adopted by the State Central Committee at the party's May convention, this proposal would be implemented on a trial basis for the March 2000 primary. Its goal is to expand the party and broaden our appeal to the growing number of Marylanders who are unwilling to affiliate with a political party.

Herbert Barness, 74, a millionaire real estate developer and prominent Republican fund-raiser, died Saturday in Doylestown, Pa.Mr. Barness' family business, the Barness Organization, is one of the largest developers of houses and shopping malls in the area. His parents, Mary and Joe Barness, launched the business 73 years ago.Mr. Barness used his wealth to support the political campaigns of prominent Republicans, such as Sen. Arlen Specter. He was a member of the Republican National Committee at the time of his death.

An article about Republican National Committee television ads in Wednesday's editions of The Sun miscast remarks made by Mike Collins, the RNC's press secretary.Forty percent of the costs of such ads are paid for with money from donors "whose monies support state and local party-building activities," he said. He did not describe these donors as special interests.Pub Date: 10/30/98

Evelyn McPhail, 68, a former co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, died Thanksgiving Day at her home in Jackson, Miss., of complications from injuries she suffered in a 1997 car accident.Mrs. McPhail, who as a child lived in an orphanage, had a reputation as a kind but determined worker on the political front lines for 35 years. She led the Mississippi GOP from 1987 to 1993. Under her leadership, Republicans claimed the governor's job for the first time this century with Kirk Fordice's 1991 victory over incumbent Ray Mabus.

THE Republican Party has taken another step that will bolster conclusions that it expects to benefit politically from Christian Coalition strategies to reach minorities.Stuart DeVeaux, named Jan. 13 to lead the Republican National Committee's outreach to the African-American community, was deputy director of the controversial Samaritan Project.The Samaritan Project began a year ago as the Christian Coalition's program to promote spiritual and financial aid for poor minority communities. It has sponsored religious-based unity conferences in several cities, including Baltimore, but the events have been criticized by Democrats as designed to recruit African Americans and Hispanics into the GOP.Mr.

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole exceeded the legal campaign fund-raising limit during a three-state sweep that ended here yesterday -- a benchmark viewed during the heat of the primary season as worrisome, but now treated by the Senate majority leader as a minor nuisance.Dole campaign officials would not say how much money was raised at events the past few days in Iowa, Texas and Tennessee. But they confirmed that the tally would put the candidate's total fund raising beyond $37.2 million, the maximum that federal law allows presidential contenders to gather and spend before the national conventions in August.

THE FINAL report of the Republican National Committee on Minority and Ethnic Participation was presented Jan. 22, 1988, amid all the ballyhoo, pomp and circumstance one might expect of a long-awaited document that was supposed to dramatically alter the party's complexion. It wasn't worth the paper it was printed on. Republicans continue to pay lip service to wanting more minorities as members, and have made some gains in that regard, but the party is loath to abandon its successful "Southern strategy" based on the appeasement of white men.That being so, it has been surprising to some African Americans to see Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole so eager to ** hook former Joint Chiefs Chairman Colin Powell as his running mate.

WASHINGTON -- The Republican National Committee has now decided it will forgo the pleasure of hearing witnesses give live testimony before its platform committee at the national convention in San Diego.Instead, those who want to make their views known are being encouraged to use the mails.The decision represents an obvious and understandable attempt by the Republicans to minimize the harsh divisions within their party on the abortion-rights issue -- or at least to minimize the extent that those divisions might be exacerbated by the television cameras.

Michael S. Steele hit the nail on the head the other day when he noted that Republicans are generally stuck in a rut when it comes to addressing black audiences. Speaking in New York City at the 100th convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the chairman of the Republican National Committee observed, "I spent some time looking at previous remarks by Republicans before this body, and I was struck by the litany of phrases that Republicans often cut and paste into a speech ... 'Party of Lincoln' four or five times ... oh, and one of my favorites, 'Bull Connor was a Democrat.

WASHINGTON - A member of the Republican National Committee called yesterday for Michael S. Steele to step down as the party's national chairman, a job that Maryland's former lieutenant governor has held for less than five weeks. The demand by Dr. Ada Fisher came in the wake of Steele's recent squabble with talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh over Republican leadership. Fisher termed the flap a "Republican horror show" and predicted that donations to the party from conservatives would dry up as a result, according to The Hill , the Washington newspaper that first reported the contents of her e-mail to fellow committee members.

Washington - Six Republicans hoping to lead their party back from recent national election defeats acknowledged yesterday that they must close a technology gap with Barack Obama and the Democrats and learn to compete in traditionally Democratic states. In their first, and perhaps only, public debate, the contenders to be the next national Republican chairman avoided attacking each other. But they had surprisingly sharp words of criticism for their party's departing two-term president. Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell drew applause from the Republican audience when he compared George W. Bush to Herbert Hoover and charged that Bush "has opened up the door to Mr. Obama's big government."

WASHINGTON - Last year, with some fanfare, former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele joined two prominent Republican moderates in announcing the revival of a centrist political organization, the Republican Leadership Council. Now, Steele's name has mysteriously disappeared from the RLC's Web site. Until recently, he was prominently listed as one of three co-founders, along with former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman and former Missouri Sen. John Danforth. The change apparently happened within the past week, according to an Internet search.

Barack Obama disclosed yesterday that he raised $35.9 million in the first 15 days of October, after a jaw-dropping $150 million in September. Although his fundraising pace slowed, Obama's September-October surge all but guarantees that he will outspend John McCain and the Republican National Committee in the closing days of the presidential campaign. The latest fundraising numbers provide further evidence that Obama made the right decision when he opted not to take federal funds for the general election campaign, instead relying on his ever-growing donor base of more than 3 million people, whose average donation size is $86. McCain, by contrast, accepted a federal grant of $84.1 million.

St. Paul, MINN. - Head home, hunker down and hope for the best. That was the recipe for Maryland Republicans as they departed their party's national convention to prepare for an election they hope puts John McCain in the White House. There's not much of a chance of McCain's taking Maryland, which last went for a Republican in 1988 and has drifted leftward ever since. But national polls are close, and state Republican leaders say a McCain victory could boost the prospects of a party that has been playing defense for years.

As quips ricocheted around him, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson largely stayed away from the one-liners during his first presidential debate yesterday, sticking to the low-key style that has drawn derision during his month on the campaign trail. In a highly anticipated appearance, Thompson shared a Dearborn, Mich., stage with eight other candidates seeking the Republican presidential nomination, giving a national audience its first opportunity to directly compare the 65-year-old actor with other contenders for the White House.

Washington -- Former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee is about to take a big step toward a formal presidential campaign, a move that will shake up the unsettled Republican field and throw a wild card into the competition for the GOP's conservative core. This week, Thompson asked supporters to begin collecting campaign donations on June 4, after he files papers with the Federal Election Commission to establish a political committee to "test the waters" for a White House bid. The move is the clearest signal to date that Thompson, best-known for playing a gruff district attorney on Law & Order, is shelving his reluctance to join the race.

WASHINGTON -- The White House declined to confirm speculation yesterday that Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, who lost his bid for the Senate this week, was under consideration to run the national Republican Party or fill a spot in President Bush's Cabinet. Several party insiders said Steele had been mentioned as a replacement for Ken Mehlman, the Maryland native who yesterday said he would not seek a second term as chairman of the Republican National Committee, or Alphonso R. Jackson, Bush's housing secretary.

WASHINGTON -- The war in Iraq continued to dominate the battle for control of Congress yesterday, as President Bush and Democratic leaders launched their final appeals in a midterm election that could go down as the most expensive and one of the nastiest ever. With a flurry of late national surveys differing on whether Republicans might be reducing the Democratic advantage, leading Democrats urged Americans to demand a new direction in Iraq by ousting the GOP majorities in the House and Senate.