Two other veterans of Barbour's successful RNC operation, Ed Gillespie and Curt Anderson, the RNC's former field director, are onboard, as are top GOP pollster Ed Goeas and consultants Stuart Stevens and Russ Schriefer.
"I remember it as a crystallizing moment, " says Doug Heye, the RNC's communications director.
The Clinton-Gore campaign responds to the RNC's "Pledge" and throws the tax hot potato back into Dole's lap.
Patrick Ruffini, the former director of the RNC's eCampaign, echoed Erickson's views.
"As a broadcaster licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, you have a responsibility to the viewing public, and to your licensing agency, to refrain from complicity in any illegal activity, " said the RNC's chief counsel, Jill Holtzman Vogel, in a letter sent to about 250 stations Friday.
It's a clear sign the candidates know that the party is in need of a technology overhaul, said Patrick Ruffini, an online Republican strategist and veteran of President Bush's 2000 campaign and the RNC.
Mehlman's comments Friday echoed similar criticism leveled at Kerry on Thursday by RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie, as the president's campaign team rachets up its rhetoric toward the winner of the first two Democratic nominating contests.
Mr. KEN MEHLMAN (Former RNC Chairman): Let's every single person in this room find two more people before February 5th to commit to a similar level of support.
Clinton said he wanted to reduce taxes, but according to the RNC, he gave the U.S. the largest tax increase in history.
The RNC launched two Web videos objecting to Sotomayor's record and statements, and loyalists who get the party's tweets could see a running critique of her confirmation performance.
CNN: King: GOP sees fertile ground in taxes, pocketbook issues
As first reported in this week's issue of TIME magazine, the money was given directly to the RNC over several years, starting in 1991, by Florida-based Young Brothers Development Co.
CNN: AllPolitics - RNC May Return $122,000 To Hong Kong Company
" Republican sources tell CNN's "Inside Politics" that outgoing New Hampshire Gov. Steve Merrill, RNC General Counsel David Norcross, Colorado RNC committeeman Jim Nicholson and Texas GOP Chairman Tom Pauken are all vying to come in on top in the first ballot and that about "half of the committee is undecided.
Scozzafava's exit was followed a day later by her endorsement of Owens, as the RNC immediately funneled resources to Hoffman, and third-party groups backing both remaining candidates descended on the district.
It's kind of the grassroots energy that the Tea Party has tapped into and that the RNC has desperately tried to get a hold of.
Most of the scores of prescriptions the RNC panel put forward in the report focus on ways to improve delivery of the party's message.
Frank Cannon, who directs the conservative American Principles Project, said the authors of the RNC report erred in de-emphasizing social issues when singling out the electoral successes of the country's 30 Republican governors.
WSJ: Social Conservatives Raise Red Flags Over Republican Blueprint
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