Mel Martinez as the new RNC Head

Mel Martinez has been appointed the new head of the RNC. On its face, this would seem to be a good appointment as Martinez has a great life story of coming over to this country by himself from Cuba as part of the Pedro Pan program and is a charismatic and articulate spokesman. However, there are two problems with the appointment: The first problem, is that as Senator he already has a full schedule and it will be difficult (even while not running the day-to-day operations of the RNC) to fulfill both duties and the second problem, which is a bigger problem is that he represents a swing state and as such positions he represents as RNC Chairman may hamper his ability to get re-elected as Senator as Florida (his margin of victory in 2004 was razor-thin).

If the Republicans wanted to appoint a Senator as Chairman, they could have done so as I believe the first problem I alluded to is not as important as the second. Governor Rendell was able to fulfill his DNC duties while serving as the Mayor of Philadelphia. However, the second problem is going to be difficult as it will be hard for him to defend certain national Republican positions without making himself unpopular in Florida. Republicans may have been better off appointing someone from a safe seat or a non-politician in the mold of Mehlman.

However, I am hoping that I am wrong and he will do an excellent job.