Wow. Ballot four gives us our third leader of the day, this time South Carolina Republican Party chair Katon Dawson, leaping to 62 votes. Michael Steele is barely behind with 60. Saul Anuzis is a distant third with 31, and Ken Blackwell remains at 15, a total that has to be disappointing with 44 possible pickups tossed into the mix. Blackwell went 0-for-44 with Duncan supporters.
For that matter, Anuzis is in pretty tough shape, picking up only seven of Duncan’s voters, assuming none of his third-ballot voters abandoned him. He was widely considered everyone’s second choice, but it would seem that many of Duncan’s supporters preferred Dawson–feeling the need for the chairman to be a successful party chair.
It is now a two-man race, it seems: Katon Dawson vs. Michael Steele.