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RNC members have drafted what's being described as a 'purity' resolution.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - One of Republican National Committee members who helped draft resolution that would prevent moderate candidates from receiving party money said Tuesday that the measure is not intended to challenge to the leadership of Michael Steele, the RNC chairman.

"I think it's sufficiently broad so as not to handcuff him," Nebraska committeeman Pete Ricketts said of the so-called "purity" resolution, which first leaked to reporters Monday.

The resolution, sponsored by Indiana committee member Jim Bopp Jr., proposes a ten-point ideological platform for the Republican party and would require GOP candidates to adhere to at least eight of those points. If not, a candidate be prohibited from receiving financial assistance from the RNC.

Bopp told CNN Monday that the resolution will help Steele avoid criticism from the right-wing of the party. "This resolution will establish standards so that he won't feel obligated to support every Republican and not feel criticized," he said.

Ricketts said the resolution was sparked in large part by the contentious special election in New York's 23rd congressional district, in which a third party candidate, Doug Hoffman, entered the race as an conservative alternative to the moderate Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava. Conservative activists nationwide rallied to Hoffman's side, eventually driving Scozzafava from the race, which was ultimately won by Democrat Bill Owens.

"NY-23 crystallized for us some of the issues the Tea Party people had with Republican party," said Ricketts, one of the resolution's ten co-sponsors. "We felt like we needed to send a message that we are the party of conservative values. This resolution is one way to demonstrate that we mean what we say."

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The Republican National Committee will announce Monday that veteran political strategist Alex Castellanos will assume a senior communications role at the committee.

Washington (CNN) - The Republican National Committee will announce Monday that veteran political strategist Alex Castellanos will assume a senior communications role at the committee, an RNC official tells CNN.

Earlier in the day, RNC Chairman Michael Steele revealed that communications director Trevor Francis was leaving his post.

Castellanos will not be filling Francis' old position but, rather, will be acting as an adviser to the RNC.

Castellanos is a CNN contributor, but the network learned independently of his new role at the RNC.

"Now the RNC has a new focus and direction - the 2010 elections," Castellanos said when reached by telephone. "And I am happy to help."

In 2008, Castellanos was a key member of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's campaign team. He will work with the committee through the 2010 elections.

Updated: 8:16 p.m.

The chief sponsor of a resolution that delineates conservative principles espoused by former President Reagan says the resolution would insulate RNC head Michael Steele from conservative criticism.

Washington (CNN) - Conservative members of the Republican National Committee are circulating a new resolution that calls on party members to stand up to President Obama's "socialist" agenda and would prohibit RNC funds from going to GOP candidates who disagree with elements of a proposed ten plank ideological platform.

The language of the proposal is still being tweaked ahead of January's RNC Winter Meeting in Hawaii, where it could be submitted for a vote before the full committee.

Jim Bopp, Jr., an RNC committee member from Indiana and the chief sponsor of the resolution, said the goal of the resolution is to "re-establish the party's conservative bona fides."

"This would establish standards for candidates and hold them accountable to RNC's conservative platform," he told CNN. "We are open to diverse views, but you do have to agree with us most of the time."

Bopp said such standards would insulate RNC chairman Michael Steele from the kind of conservative criticism he faced last month for supporting a moderate Republican, Dede Scozzafava, in the special election in New York's 23rd congressional district.

"I think he has been unjustly criticized for supporting the Republican candidate in New York," Bopp said of Steele, whom he opposed during the chairman's race last Winter. "This resolution will establish standards so that he wont won't feel obligated to support every Republican and not feel criticized."

RNC spokeswoman Gail Gitcho had no comment on the resolution.

"The deadline for submitting Resolutions for the RNC Winter Meeting is more than 30 days away," Gitcho said in an e-mail.

"At this point, we do not what resolutions will be submitted nor what the final language of any resolution ultimately submitted may be."

If approved in its current form, the resolution would be the second RNC document this year to formally accuse the Obama administration of pushing socialist policies. The committee approved a resolution in May calling on Democrats to "stop pushing our country toward socialism."

Full text of the resolution after the jump:

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RNC official resigns.

Washington (CNN) – A senior aide to Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele has resigned his post less than one month after the GOP scored major victories by winning the governorships of New Jersey and Virginia, CNN has learned.

RNC Communications Director Trevor Francis is leaving his job, Steele confirmed in statement to CNN, but offered no reason for the departure. Francis joined the RNC after Steele was elected chairman at the beginning of the year.

"Trevor took a hiatus from a very successful private sector career to give service to the Republican Party this year," Steele said in the statement. "Trevor's talents will be missed at the RNC. We have accomplished a great deal in the year he was here. He worked tirelessly, as did the whole team, on the victories in Virginia and his home state of New Jersey."

Steele's short time as chairman has been marked by highs and lows, marked by both fundraising success and his own headline-grabbing statements.

–CNN's Mark Preston, Brianna Keilar and Deirdre Walsh

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Republican National Committee will target a handful of centrist Democrats on Monday with a new Web video and series of conference calls criticizing the Democrats for voting to allow debate to begin on health care reform.

The 60-second video, which will be e-mailed to more than 5 million people, singles out Sens. Evan Bayh of Indiana, Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Ben Nelson of Nebraska, as well as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, according to an advance copy of the video provided to CNN.

"Rolled by pressure from Barack Obama and Harry Reid, they voted to move forward a government-run health care bill our nation does not want and can't afford," an announcer says before ticking off criticism of each lawmaker.

Reid persuaded all 58 Democrats and the two independent senators who align themselves with the Democrats to vote Saturday evening in favor of allowing debate on the Democratic health care bill to move forward.

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WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Republican National Committee will target a
handful of centrist Democrats on Monday with a new Web video and series of
conference calls criticizing the Democrats for voting to allow debate to begin
on health care reform.

The 60-second video, which will be e-mailed to more than 5 million
people, singles out Sens. Evan Bayh of Indiana, Byron Dorgan of North Dakota,
Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Ben Nelson of
Nebraska, as well as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, according to
an advance copy of the video provided to CNN.

"Rolled by pressure from Barack Obama and Harry Reid, they voted to move
forward a government-run health care bill our nation does not want and can't
afford," an announcer says before ticking off criticism of each lawmaker.
Reid persuaded all 58 Democrats and the two independent senators who
align themselves with the Democrats to vote Saturday evening in favor of
allowing debate on the Democratic health care bill to move forward.

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The Republican National Committee says they've raised what they call an off-election year record of money last month.

Washington (CNN) - With less than a year to go until crucial mid-term contests, the Republican National Committee says they've raised what they call an off-election year record of money last month.

The RNC reports Thursday morning that they raked in $8.79 million in October, with $11.2 million cash on hand and no debt. The RNC says it has now topped one million active donors and that as of November 11, it has registered a record 305,000 new contributors this year.

The $8.79 million is up slightly from the $8.74 million the RNC says they raised in September. The $11.2 million in the bank is down nearly $8 million from the start of October, which reflects the large amounts of money the RNC spent last month to help Republican candidates in this November's contests. Republican gubernatorial candidates in New Jersey and Virginia both won, grabbing back two seats held by Democrats.

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The Republican National Committee has instructed its insurance company to remove a provision from the committee's health insurance policy that covered elective abortion for employees.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Republican National Committee has instructed its insurance company to remove a provision from the committee's health insurance policy that covered elective abortion for employees.

"Money from our loyal donors should not be used for this purpose," RNC Chairman Michael Steele said in a statement released late Thursday. "I don't know why this policy existed in the past, but it will not exist under my administration. Consider this issue settled."

In a note accompanying the statement, the RNC said this type of coverage dated to 1991.
The Politico newspaper first reported the story Thursday.

Follow Mark Preston on Twitter: @prestoncnn

(CNN) - The Republican National Committee is pouring some last-minute money into the highly-anticipated special election in New York's 23rd congressional district with a new radio ad, as the party throws its support to Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman.

The RNC released a new radio ad on Monday encouraging Republicans to support conservative candidates on Election Day. Without naming Hoffman, the narrator says that voters "need conservative leaders who stand up for our values."

"Whose side are you on? The Pelosi-Paterson tax-and-spend train wreck?" the narrator asks in the ad, echoing a Hoffman campaign theme. "Or do you believe in Republican conservative values, like thrift, personal responsibility, and family? Let's tell the liberals, enough is enough."

The RNC had previously backed Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava, who dropped out of the race over the weekend and officially backed the Democratic nominee, Bill Owens.

The ad will air for two days in North Country media markets. The RNC would not reveal the size of the buy.

The White House is denying that top donors got special access to administration officials.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Republicans are seizing on a new report that suggests the Obama administration has been granting top Democratic donors access to senior administration officials if they commit to raising bundles of cash before the 2010 midterm elections.

The story - published Wednesday in the Washington Times - revealed an internal Democratic National Committee memo outlining how high-level donors are named members of a "National Finance Committee" that is granted access to "senior members of the administration" in Washington meetings and conference calls. The paper also listed several campaign donors who have been invited to official state functions, used the bowling alley in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, or screened movies inside the president's mansion.

Asked if there was any quid pro quo involved, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said, "No, of course not."

Gibbs downplayed the report during Wednesday's press briefing, boasting that the president has instituted "the very toughest ethics and transparency rules of any administration." Following up on an earlier pledge to do so, he added that the White House will soon release White House guest logs cataloguing every person who has visited the White House, including details on "who that person is, when they came, how long they were here and who they met with."

"Contributing doesn't guarantee a visit to the White House, nor does it preclude it," Gibbs said. "Hundreds of thousands of people have visited the White House since the president came in." He then referred further questions to the DNC.

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Michael Steele said he's not worried that only 20 percent of Americans describe themselves as Republicans.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele on Tuesday brushed off a new poll that indicates just 20 percent of the American public are willing to call themselves Republicans.

Questioned on whether he's concerned about the new Washington Post/ABC News poll, Steele responded: "Not really."

"What I'm concerned about is how they vote," he said on CNN's "The Situation Room." Steele insisted that "at end of the day you can call yourself whatever you want" - as long voters ultimately choose candidates who favor small government, business-friendly policies.

"That's at the end of the day where I'm focused as a party chairman," he continued. "On delivering candidates and delivering a message that empowers people and lisfts them up, not puts the government in front of them as the president and Democrats in congress are doing now."

With Election Day just two weeks away, Steele hedged when asked to make a prediction in the New Jersey and Virginia governor's races. "I love the feel of a win, my friend," he declared, before adding a qualifier: "But I'm the chairman. What do you expect?"

Republicans have a decisive lead in Virginia, but the picture is less clear in New Jersey.

"I feel good about where we are right now with both of these races," he said. "We have a lot of work to do. We're ahead slightly, you know how these things can go. But as a national chairman, I feel good about a win."

DNC falls short of RNC in September cash haul.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Democratic National Committee raised just over $8 million last month, according to a party source - a total that would put the DNC behind the Republican National Committee for the month, which reported earlier Tuesday that they brought in $8.74 million in September.

But the for the entire third quarter of the year, the DNC edged out the RNC by around $1.3 million, the first time the Democratic Party has topped the GOP in fundraising for a quarter since the spring of 2004.

The RNC reports they now have have $18.9 million cash on hand with no debt. No word yet from the DNC on how much money they have in the bank or how much they owe in debt.

The party figures come as President Barack Obama headlines a fundraiser for the DNC in New York City Tuesday. A party source says the event is expected to rake in $2 to 3 million. Obama was the main attraction at a similar event for the DNC last Thursday in San Francisco, which a party source says brought in around $3 million.

Follow Paul Steinhauser on Twitter: @psteinhausercnn

September was a big fundraising month for the Republican National Committee.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - It appears September was a big fundraising month for the Republican National Committee.

The RNC announced Tuesday that it raked in $8.74 million last month and now has $18.9 million cash on hand with no debt. The RNC says it averaged 2,400 new donors per day in September, an off-year record and an increase of about 2000 new donors per day since February.

The RNC raised $7.8 million in August, beating the Democratic National Committee by around $1 million. The DNC has not yet released its September fundraising numbers.

"It is clear that the Republican message of lower taxes, less spending and common sense health care reform resonates with working families and small businesses alarmed by the course the president and Congressional Democrats have taken. As we move closer to the elections this fall and in 2010, these funds will enable the RNC to provide Republican candidates throughout the country the financial resources needed to help ensure victory on election day," RNC chairman Michael Steele said in a statement released by the committee.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele turned 51 on Monday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Monday marks the occasion of Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele's 51st birthday.

The RNC doesn't appear to have anything special planned.

But Democratic National Committee spokesman Hari Sevugan is celebrating with - what else? - a little snark.

"We're not Facebook friends, so I didn't know it was his birthday," Sevugan e-mailed CNN. "But he's given us so many gifts, I feel like we certainly owe him something."

The RNC has apparently changed the name of Michael Steele's blog.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - After an initial round of Internet mockery, the Republican National Committee has apparently decided to drop "What Up?" as the title of Michael Steele's blog on the newly revamped GOP.com.

One day after the rollout of the site, which crashed repeatedly throughout the day Wednesday and was ridiculed by Democrats and Republicans alike, Steele's blog is now called "Change the Game."

There's still only one post so far on the blog, a short entry that asks readers to answer the question, "Why are you a Republican?"

The RNC relaunched GOP.com Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Republican National Committee debuted its newly redesigned online portal GOP.com Tuesday - but not without a few technical headaches, including some that left the site completely unavailable for parts of the day.

“Due to a high volume of web traffic, our new website experienced a few technical difficulties, but we are working out the glitches to bring it back to full working order,” the RNC's Director of Media Affairs LeRoy Coleman said in an e-mail to CNN.

The new version of GOP.com, which prominently features images of women and ethnic and racial minorities, plugs the party's involvement in social networking sites. A section on the homepage allows users to see posts on the GOP's Facebook page, where roughly 93,000 people have connected with the RNC. From the new site, users can also view the RNC's Twitter feed along with YouTube videos and a flickr slideshow.

The party says new site will also act as a Web platform that will play host to applications which the party is encouraging conservative online activists to build for the site. It also hosts eight new blogs, including a blog written by Steele, entitled "What up?"

"The Internet has been around for awhile, now," Steele writes in his first blog post on the revamped site. "Today, I want to begin to better connect with Republicans everywhere."

But not all Republicans are happy with the new approach, as the site faced some early criticism from conservatives. A blog post on the conservative portal townhall.com called GOP.com a "(Red) Hot Mess" and "downright embarrassing."
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(CNN) – The RNC is reacting to the DNC's reaction to the RNC's reaction earlier Friday to President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize:

"Like most Americans, the DNC can't think of one achievement that the president has accomplished, so they resort to their predictable response and standard playbook of demonizing those who disagree with them. First they call Americans concerned over health care 'rabid extremists' and 'angry mobs.' Now, when challenged to answer the question of what the president has accomplished, Democrats are lashing out calling Republicans terrorists. That type of political rhetoric is shameful."

The Republican National Committee distributed new internal talking points on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Republican National Committee is instructing surrogates to accuse the Obama administration of trying to "fool Americans" into supporting their heath care plans by hyping GOP figures who've spoken positively about the plan, according to internal RNC talking points provided to CNN on Tuesday by a Republican source outside the committee.

In recent days, the administration and its Democratic allies have pointed to a handful of prominent Republicans who support the idea of passing some kind of health care legislation by the end of the year.

This week, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson and former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist - all Republicans - endorsed the idea. So did New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Republican-turned-independent.

The RNC's response, according to the internal talking points: "The White House's latest tactic to rescue its failing health care plan is highlighting Republicans who say they support health care reform to fool Americans into thinking these Republicans support the president's government-run health care experiment ... This is yet another example of the White House's preference for P.R. over substance."

Read the full document here.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele has been harshly critical of ACORN.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Like other GOP leaders, Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele took a harsh tone toward ACORN last month after several of the group's employees were caught on tape offering financial advice to activists posing undercover as a pimp and prostitute.

On September 15, after the Senate voted to defund the community organizing group, Steele released a statement accusing ACORN of "nefarious activities," saying it uses "illegal means to achieve its ends." A few days later, on September 24, Steele called for congressional Democrats to investigate the "corrupt organization" and said damage control efforts by ACORN officials were "insulting."

But during a speaking appearance in the days between issuing those two statements, Steele had kind words for ACORN and its CEO, Bertha Lewis, who happened to be guiding that so-called damage control.

Appearing September 21 at Philander Smith College, a historically black college in Arkansas, the RNC chairman spoke diplomatically of the group and its history of organizing in low-income communities.

"The organization has a problem that it needs to deal with," Steele told the audience in remarks that were recorded and posted on YouTube over the weekend. "I will say that current head of the organization, she has done a phenomenal job of getting out in front of it. I applaud her. I take her at her word that she wants to make sure that the bad apples are thrown out."

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