Have you ever heard of Mike Duncan aka 'Mr. Inside' ?

[babylonsister]

'Mr. Inside' faces tough job selling Republican brand
By Halimah Abdullah | McClatchy Newspapers


WASHINGTON — Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan's name doesn't create the kind of buzz in Washington media circles that some of his immediate predecessors — and even the party's general chairman, Florida Sen. Mel Martinez — seem to generate.

But for more than two decades, the man some fellow Kentucky Republicans call "Mr. Inside" has been quietly working behind the scenes to help raise funds and elect Sen. Jim Bunning, Gov. Ernie Fletcher and every Republican president since Richard Nixon to office.

"If you go back over the past 15, maybe 20 years, it's pretty hard to find someone who has been in leadership at the RNC or the White House who didn't have Mike for guidance or in their inner circle," said Ron Kaufman, a longtime political adviser to both former President George H.W. Bush and current presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

But Duncan, an Inez, Ky., native and close friend of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, faces a tremendous challenge as he helps steer his party through the 2008 presidential elections.

Duncan's mission: Sell a brand that has weathered record low presidential approval ratings, frustration over the Iraq war, lobbying and congressional ethics scandals, and 2006 congressional losses.

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