Who exactly is the de facto leader of the Republican party right now?

[NNN0LHI]

Any ideas?

There is about to be a big fight.

Don

[Idealism]

1. Mitch

[SpiralHawk]

2. "Please allow me to introduce myself. Smirk."

"I'm a man of 'elite' wealth and taste. Smirk.

"Pleased to meet you.
Hope you guess my name.
Whooot whoot. Smirk."

[Historic NY]

3. Ted Stevens.

:shrug:

[Deep13]

4. It's a sewer rat in Mobile. nt

[Bicoastal]

5. Joe T. Plumber.

[havocmom]

6. the clown who loses the race out the door?

[meegbear]

7. The de facto leader is * ...

whoever the prez is, he's considered their leader

[TechBear_Seattle]

8. The de facto leader is the highest ranking elected official

So until Inauguration Day, the de facto leader of the Republican Party is still George Bush.

The de jure leader (who has legal authority for running the party) is the whoever heads the party's national central committee.

[Hawkeye-X]

9. And Mitch McConnell wouldn't know a rat from his own ass.

And he'll further dumb down the Thug Party to dead party really soon.

Watch for a brand new national party called Conservative Party coming to the next election coming soon!

[Burma Jones]

10. It had better be someone with a big fucking broom and an IQ over 100

Frum and Brooks (amongst others) have bemoaned the fact that Virginia was the only state in the top ten for education/income that went Red last time around.......well, now they're one of us

[JCMach1]

11. JEBtm put money on it!

:grr:

[ShortnFiery]

12. Chicken Hawk Tom Delay?

Tweety's (MSNBC) "Hairballs" can't get enough of him. :shrug:

[rateyes]

13. My bet:

Newt Gingrich.

[Old and In the Way]

14. Good question.

McConnell and Boehner are probably the legislative leaders, but neither really have the rank-and-file behind them. I think there's a real vacuum in the Party now.....I suspect that Romney, Guiliani, Huckabee, Thompson, and Palin will all be scrambling to position themselves as the voice of the GOP. At best each will have a slice of the power base, but it's pretty fragmented, depressed, and looking for scapegoats. I see no cohesive, unifying force to oppose the Democrats over the next couple of years.

[paparush]

15. Mr 20% 'smirk' - Now watch this drive!

[The_Casual_Observer]

16. Probably Romney.