Great article from The American Spectator:
Nobody in the race for chairman of the Republican National Committee has attracted as many high-profile conservative movement supporters as has former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell. And it’s true that conservatives have a host of good reasons to be high on Blackwell. But while Blackwell clearly would re-energize the movement, he is not rightly seen as appealing only to conservatives. This is a man with a history of winning elections and a comprehensive plan for helping his party win plenty more of them, at all levels of government.
First, to be clear: The list of conservatives who have endorsed Blackwell’s campaign is more than impressive. Former Reagan Attorney General Ed Meese. American Conservative Union Chairman David Keene. Former presidential candidate and supply-side economic champion Steve Forbes. Focus on the Family Chairman James Dobson. Legendary conservative direct-mail guru Richard Viguerie. Former Reagan Budget Director James C. Miller. Eagle Forum President Phyllis Schlafly. Club for Growth President Pat Toomey. American Spectator Publisher Al Regnery. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins. Media Research Center President Brent Bozell. Virginia National Committeeman and conservative youth trainer extraordinaire Morton Blackwell (no relation to the candidate)….
And on and on the list goes.
Even longer than the list of prominent conservative backers is the list of impressive items on Blackwell’s résumé. In elective office, he has been mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio State Treasurer, and two-term Ohio Secretary of State. In appointive office he has been U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, an undersecretary (under Jack Kemp) of HUD, and on official commissions for the Department of Labor, on retirement savings, and on tax reform. He has won awards for his work in government finance and in technology. And he has served on more boards and been given more honorary degrees than most people would do in several lifetimes.
Blackwell is quite good on TV. He’s even better on a podium, and even better yet in a large roundtable discussion. He has every bit of “presence” you would expect from a college football linebacker who was invited to training camp by the Dallas Cowboys — which is what he was, before getting a graduate degree and teaching for 17 years at his alma mater, Xavier University. He speaks forcefully, with a real directness. He speaks with the authority of a man who knows his facts and knows his mind.
The complete article is online at The American Spectator.
