Bush Taps Campaign Manager to Lead Party
By Thomas B. Edsall
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 16, 2004; Page A03

President Bush has chosen Ken Mehlman, manager of his successful reelection campaign, to become the next chairman of the Republican National Committee, the White House announced yesterday.

Mehlman, 38, known for his loyalty to Bush and his assiduous attention to detail, said his main goal will be to strengthen the majority party status of the GOP, reaching out to women, minorities and Jewish voters.

Mehlman is a favorite of Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove, and he has functioned as a kind of chief operating officer, translating Rove's strategic ideas into actual practice.

"Our party has an historic opportunity as a result of the 2004 election and the administration and congressional agenda to strengthen and build the party in the long and short term," Mehlman said in an interview.

At the top of Mehlman's agenda will be the institutionalization of the 72-Hour Project, the intensive voter mobilization program at the RNC that worked to great success in both 2002 and 2004, producing record numbers of Republican voters at the polls.