Monday, November 24, 2008

A Catholic and Knights of Columbus Is Running For Chair of the Republican Party- Chip Saltsman

Micheal Steele who is also Catholic, and who I also like, is running to chair the Republican Party. Thought there are concerns among some pro-lifers about his abortion stance.

I very much like Chip Saltsman who is running. He ran the Huckabee campaign. What he did on such limited dollars is amazing. He had a very good track record in Tennessee too.

Chip is young and I think one that can work with all the factions.

He , like Steele, considered the Priesthood at one time. During the Huckabee days I had a post Meet the Catholic Campaign Manager of Governor Huckabee .

Here are the people that can vote



Here is neat little story:
CBUer running Huckabee campaignEx-Tennessee GOP chair makes national name

WASHINGTON -- Chip Saltsman was instantly a "big fish in a small pond" when he arrived at the Memphis campus of Christian Brothers University in the mid-1980s, a retired Christian brother and confidant recalled recently.Saltsman, 39, the former Tennessee Republican Party chairman now running former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee's national campaign for president, was active in Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, the Knights of Columbus and student government after arriving from a Catholic prep school in Nashville."

Chip showed a lot of leadership," said Brother Patrick O'Brien, 70, who retired two years ago after 35 years at CBU.In the current CBU alumni magazine Belltower, Saltsman credits O'Brien for teaching him the basics of fund-raising. Saltsman ran the "Senior Drive" in his last year as an undergraduate. He later returned for an MBA."When he left the university, my thought was that he might join the (Christian) brothers or go into the seminary, and I wanted to encourage that," said O'Brien. "He was still thinking that way but the political opportunity came open and that fit him."His first big race after college was George H.W. Bush's loss to Bill Clinton in 1992.

Two years later, he was active in then-West Tennessee Congressman Don Sundquist's successful run for governor. Sundquist brought him to Nashville as an administrative assistant.Saltsman left the governor's office in 1998 to become GOP state chairman and ran the successful George W. Bush effort to beat favorite son and Vice President Al Gore in 2000.Later, he worked with the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

A snuff-dipping confidant of former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, whose VOLPAC leadership political action committee Saltsman ran when it looked like Frist was considering an '08 run for president, he is well connected in Tennessee in the run up to Tuesday's GOP primary.When Frist dropped his presidential bid at the end of 2006, Huckabee took Saltsman on a duck-hunting trip and made the pitch. Saltsman joined the Huckabee effort on Feb. 1, 2007.Frist calls Saltsman "a multi-talented superstar.""

He's demonstrated uncanny, remarkable leadership in every endeavor he's undertaken," Frist said.Some say they were surprised that the snakeskin boots-wearing Saltsman would go to the Huckabee camp."When he signed on, many people scratched their heads and said, 'What's this guy doing?' " Shelby County GOP Chairman Bill Giannini said. "He obviously saw something in Gov. Huckabee and was able to take the very limited tools they had available to them and parlay that into a very, very credible national campaign."

Giannini added: "Whatever Huckabee does in the presidential primaries, Chip Saltsman has made a name for himself in national politics and certainly on a presidential campaign."Jim Steinbrecher, a CBU fraternity brother and Bartlett High School teacher, said he and Saltsman were "starry-eyed freshmen," who tried to start up a campus radio station but learned they couldn't afford it."It was a good lesson in learning, hey, dream big and you never know what's going to happen, and that carries through to the Huckabee campaign," he said."Chip has an unbelievable sense of timing," he added. "And it's not just about schmoozing. It's about getting in and working with these people and for these people."

PLEASE CALL YOUR REPS. The Number of the GOP in Louisiana for instance is (225) 928-2998

Chip has met with the voting members of the Louisiana Delegation already!! Call and tell of your support and have others call for him!!!

1 comment:

Kurt said...

This shows how far we have come. Had Michael Steele been born a generation earlier, be would have been denied membership in the Knights of Columbus because of his race. Now he is a member and a potential National political party chair. We are moving forward as a church and a nation.