It was a great speech…  Greg Hengler has the whole 30-minute address at Townhall.com but this 10-minute clip should give you a good taste:

I have a tremendous amount of respect for Mr. Steele, but I have to admit I’ve been having second thoughts about him as RNC chairman… He’s made more than a few stumbles, but this speech highlights why I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

In some respects he has thankless job trying to resuscitate the Republican Party Nationally while at the same time refereeing squabbles by between party factions.

Essentially Steele is caught between two factions the first rightly points out that Republicans lost in both of 2006 and 2008 was because the GOP lost its way. The party of limited government and fiscal responsibility traded in its traditional conservative principles for a some sort of political expedient squishy “republicanism” and went on a wild spending spree while descending into corruption.

At the same time, there is a second camp that rightly point out that some places simply won’t elect conservatives any more.

They’re both right, the problem for the second camp is that if the Republican Party cannot clearly distinguish itself from the Democratic Party, why even have a Republican Party? The simple truth is we have to put aside our differences and rally around the things that unite us, limited government, fiscal responsibility, a strong national defense, and vibrant free markets, and draw clear distinctions between us and the Democrats.

As Michael Steele said the honeymoon is over it’s time to confront President Obama and Democrats in Congress head on.

Related

• RNC shocker: Steele delivers good speech – Hot Air
• Steele Looks Forward; Tries to Quiet Challenges – RedState

Former Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele has been elected Chairman of  the Republican National Committee.

Update: Steele defeated South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson 91-77 in the sixth round of voting to become RNC chairman.

My immediate reaction is this a good day for the Republican party, Steele is terrific communicator and should be an effective advocate for the party’s principles and policy ideas on radio and television .

Update II (5:20 p.m.): Reuters has the details:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Republican Party picked its first black chairman on Friday as it elected former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele to rebuild the party after a string of devastating defeats.

Steele, 50, is regarded within the party as a skilled speaker who can help bring the Republican message to black Americans, Hispanics, suburbanites and other fast-growing groups that have shunned the party in recent years.

Steele has argued that as a high-profile Republican in a heavily Democratic state he knows how to talk to voters outside of the party’s Southern stronghold.

“We’re going to win again in the Northeast,” he told the cheering crowd. “We’re going to continue to win in the South. We’re going to win with a new storm in the Midwest. And when we get to the West, we’re going to lock it down and win there, too.”

As Republican National Committee chairman, Steele will have to find a way to counter Democrat Barack Obama, who was sworn in as the country’s first black president 11 days ago. Read the rest…

Update III (6:35 p.m.): Hot Air has the video and The Hill has background on Steele’s campaign:

Steele won after a highly coordinated yet under-the-radar campaign in which his whip team sought to convince members that the RNC needed to reach out to centrist voters with a new voice.

He hop-scotched the country for months, meeting with members in their home states. At a candidates’ forum Thursday night, Steele said he had raised about $250,000, making the race for RNC chairman likely the most expensive per capita in history.

The choice between Steele and Thompson is tough one, I don’t think we could go wrong with either one, ultimately I think Michael Steele embodies the idea of “change” more than Thompson does so I guess you can put me in the Steele camp.

Who’s your choice? Tell us why in comments.

Ed Morrissey has more here.

Side notes…

Michael Steele, Mike Huckabee, Linda Lingle and Rudy Giuliani all hit home runs with their speeches last night. Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina and Mitt Romney also gave great speeches but they didn’t quite connect with me for some reason.

Videos, bios and transcripts are available here.