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| | Issue #21.37 :: 09/10/2008 - 09/16/2008 | Speculation Mounts That S.C. GOP Chief is Eyeing National Post
| BY COREY HUTCHINS
| Speculation is mounting that South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson is eyeing a promotion to the top administrative post in the GOP, chairman of the Republican National Committee.
The scuttlebutt has been growing since about one year ago, when Dawson was looking to raise his stock as a GOP heavyweight and considering a run for national GOP chief.
In October, Dawson said he was “well suited for the job,” according to The Hotline, a daily online political briefing published by the National Journal magazine. That same month, Dawson told the Greenville News that he would “certainly take a look at it.” And in January, Washington Post resident blogger Chris Cillizza said Dawson was one of the three candidates most often mentioned for the job.
Efforts to reach Dawson through state GOP spokesman Rob Godfrey and calls to Dawson’s place of business were unsuccessful.
However, Dawson recently phoned a prominent member of the Republican establishment in Washington, D.C., to seek advice on a run for RNC chairman, according to a Sept. 4 story on realclearpolitics.com.
Says Spartanburg County GOP Chairman Rick Beltram, “I think it’s more than rumors. I think he’s even told a number of folks that that’s what he’s looking at.”
Beltram says that if Dawson successfully runs for the RNC chairmanship then Beltram would consider himself “one of the more serious contenders” for Dawson’s job as state party boss.
Typically, 168 RNC officials elect the head of the party in January or the candidate is tapped by the president if the president is a Republican.
The last South Carolinian to serve as RNC chief was the late Lee Atwater, who held the post from 1989 to 1991.
In one move that potentially raises Dawson’s national profile, he filmed an exclusive interview with millionaire New York City real estate baron and school vouchers advocate Howard Rich at Dawson’s home in June.
Rich, a Libertarian-leaning political activist who is averse to media attention, has become infamous in South Carolina. This year Rich pumped nearly $500,000 into the coffers of select GOP candidates in the state through a network of like-minded wealthy backers and limited liability corporations, according to The Associated Press.
Rich also is associated with two Columbia-based politically oriented groups responsible for a blizzard of direct mail and TV attack ads leveled against several Republican lawmakers. The groups: South Carolinians for Responsible Government, which champions school vouchers, and the South Carolina Club for Growth, a political action committee.
“If you’re one of Howie Rich’s GOP targets, how do you feel about Katon Dawson right now?” The State newspaper’s editorial page editor, Brad Warthen, asked on his blog after South Carolinians for Responsible Government released the Dawson-Rich video.
Beltram says he believes that Dawson’s courting of Rich is smart politics and that connecting with the deep-pocketed school choice supporter, who is politically active in several states, could help Dawson on the national level with fundraising efforts.
Clemson University political science professor David Woodard says fundraising is what Dawson does best, but his relationship with Rich is less about money and more about ideas.
Either way, interested observers might want to keep an eye on Dawson to see if he is laying the groundwork for a run at the top administrative job in national Republican politics. | |
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