The final vote in this year’s race for chairman of the Republican National Committee was 91 votes for Michael Steele and 77 votes for South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson. I am told that some of those 77 are “[tick]ed off” and that phone lines among them are busy.

UPDATE: A members-only conference call is scheduled for Friday. But a Republican who was sounding the alarm about Steele recently cautions: “They are common and Steele promised to have more of them if he got elected. Obviously this one is happening at a time of serious anxiety, but the fact that they are doing it is not in and of itself an indication of a problem.”