AP Trumpets Mehlman Will Step Down
The Associated Press has just released a story saying Ken Mehlman will step down at the end of his term and will not seek to extend his tenure in the job as head of the RNC.
WASHINGTON - Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, whose party lost both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections, will step down from his post when his two-year term ends in January, GOP officials said Thursday.
The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because Mehlman had not yet made his intentions public.
Brian Jones, an RNC spokesman, declined to comment beyond saying that an announcement about Mehlman's future with the party would be made in the days ahead.
Democrats won control of the House and Senate on Tuesday by capitalizing on voter frustration with President Bush, the war in Iraq and the scandal-scarred Congress. Democrats also took a majority of governors' posts and gained a decisive edge in state legislatures.
The officials said Mehlman made the decision not to run for a second term more than a month or two ago — well before the election.
It was not unexpected, this is a normal thing after an electoral defeat (which is how Dean got his job). It will, of course, be shouted as a victory by the left. It's not, of course. It is just how the system works.
