Reince Priebus likely to be RNC chair again, despite all the losing

Despite his party's losses under his leadership, Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus has decided to stick around for a second two-year term. In a message to the RNC's 168 state chairs and committee members, Priebus made a show of force'"I am humbled by the over 130 RNC Members who I have talked to who have pledged their support and public endorsement for me"'and implicitly pointed a finger at Michael Steele:

"The RNC was over $22 million in debt with almost no cash on hand; much of our donor base lost confidence and stopped contributing to the RNC," he wrote.

But Priebus made no mention of the sweeping GOP victories that preceded his tenure and referred only obliquely to the party's disappointing election earlier this month. [...]

He touted the RNC's get-out-the-vote-effort, calling it "the strongest in history," but made no mention of Mitt Romney's loss or the party's Senate defeats.

If the RNC's GOTV was the strongest in history, and not just the strongest in the history of the RNC (itself a dubious claim), then Priebus managed to kick off his own reelection effort by making President Barack Obama's reelection look even more impressive than it already did. As for Michael Steele, he's already had something to say about the comparison between himself and Priebus as RNC chairs:

"What was the mess I left behind?" Steele said Monday in response to a question from The Daily Caller during a conference call organized by his firm. "Winning."

Maybe Priebus is looking for redemption in 2014. Maybe he's just drunk with the power of leading the party of Todd Akin and Allen West. Maybe he's hoping that two years from now, the Harry Potter books will have faded enough from memory that people will no longer be pointing out that "Reince Priebus" totally sounds like it should be a Death Eater's name. But whatever the case, here's to him being no more successful in 2014 than he was in 2012.