31 January,2009 12:00 PM IST | | Reuters
The Republican Party picked its first black chairman on Friday as it elected former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele to rebuild the party after a string of devastating defeats.
Steele, 50, is regarded within the party as a skilled speaker who can help bring the Republican message to black Americans, Hispanics, suburbanites and other fast-growing groups that have shunned the party in recent years.
As Republican National Committee chairman, Steele will have to find a way to counter Democrat Barack Obama, who was sworn in as the country's first black president 11 days ago.
"This is a remarkable moment. Some say it's historic, but it's just one more bold step that the party of Lincoln has taken since its founding," he said at a news conference, referring to the president who freed black slaves in 1863.
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Steele has argued that as a high-profile Republican in a heavily Democratic state he knows how to talk to voters outside of the party's southern stronghold.
As a US Senate candidate in 2006, Steele said his party affiliation amounted to a 'scarlet letter' that hurt his candidacy.
But with unpopular Republican President George W Bush out of office, Steele said the party was ready for a new start.
"That was then, and this is now and this is a new moment for our party," Steele said. "We can take that scarlet 'R' off our chest."
A former Roman Catholic seminarian and corporate attorney whose sister was once married to boxer Mike Tyson, Steele has promised to close the digital divide with Democrats who have used the Internet to raise record amounts of money and build an army of volunteers.
The Democratic Party elected its first black chairman, Ron Brown, in 1989.
Steele will be under intense pressure to deliver gains in the 2010 congressional elections, as well as the subsequent redistricting process that determines legislative boundaries.
Many Republicans say the party does not need to rethink its conservative philosophy but merely do a better job of communicating its policies.
Friday's vote was the first contested leadership race since 1997, before George W Bush entered the White House.
