To put this all on 'change the chair' is silly of some people.

"There has been a lot of talk about combining the tea party movement with the Republican Party. And on a small scale, that seemed to happen last week in South Carolina after state GOP representatives agreed to create a "Tea Party Republicans" group to coordinate activities with tea partiers in Greenville and Spartanburg.

This week, however, those arrangements fell apart as some tea party groups dissented from the decision. Other attempts to draw tea party groups into formal alliances are running into similar difficulties. That is a good thing. The tea party movement will be more effective than it otherwise would be if it refuses to allow itself to become an appendage of either major political party.

The tea partiers have made an important splash because they are not yet another auxiliary to the Democratic or Republican parties. Like the pro-life and Second Amendment movements before it, the tea party movement will have a bigger impact if it holds the feet of politicians in both parties to its fire. Each party must know it can win or lose swing tea party voters."

Karl Rove - Feb 2010

Jason brings up a great point.

Take the party out of the equation and focus mainly on the individual candidates by volunteering money and time.

"And how is Murkowski standing up to the GOP bosses? By rejecting the party's earmark ban and promising to pork up spending bills with parochial, unauthorized pet projects that, no doubt, will help her political allies."

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele hired his former personal assistant to manage the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., for $15,000 a month plus a $25,000 signing bonus, The Washington Times has learned.

The contract, signed by Mr. Steele on the RNC's Committee on Arrangements (COA) letterhead, calls for Belinda Cook to serve "as RNC liaison to the convention."

WTF is a convention "liaison"?

Mr. Steele signed the contract in July of this year and dispatched Mrs. Cook and a team of operatives to Tampa, where they rent living quarters, presumably to be on site to negotiate arrangements with the host committee for the 2012 Republican presidential nominating convention.

But staff and party officials report seeing Mrs. Cook not in Florida but in the RNC headquarters building in Washington this week.

This week, she sent what she labeled as "talking points" to six of Mr. Steele's staunchest supporters on the RNC. The talking points use RNC Finance Department figures to attempt to rebut accusations by the RNC's former political director that the committee under Mr. Steele has had a dismal fundraising record.

RNC spokesman Doug Heye declined to comment.

Mrs. Cook did not respond to a message left on her cell phone.

The contract guaranteed Mrs. Cook $15,000 a month, from July 1 through the date of the next chairman election, in January. The contract also awarded Mrs. Cook an immediate lump sum upon signing of $25,000, earning her $115,000 for the contract's six-month length.

The latest Federal Election Commission filings through Sept. 30 also confirm the bonus payment and the monthly payments to that date.

That reads $19,166.66 per month.

Isn't that just great.  Using Party funds for damage control?