Only those who don’t care or aren’t paying attention are oblivious to the fact that the Republican Party needs an extreme makeover.

I’ve commented about that (here, here and here), but some are developing this idea into tangible form.  Rebuild the Party is a published plan “to modernize and strengthen the Republican Party.”  And it’s a pretty good looking plan, too.

According to the website, half of the six RNC chair candidates have not endorsed the plan.  The three who have not are current Chairman Mike Duncan, GOPAC Chairman Michael Steele and South Carolina Party Chairman Katon Dawson.

Spy readers are aware that I’ve been a proponent of Michael Steele for the RNC Chair.  I’ll admit that, in addition to some superb credentials, I’m more familiar with Steele, having seen him up close as Maryland’s Lt. Governor and senatorial candidate.

However… Katon Dawson has attributes that are not only Steele’s equal, but propel him to the top of the list.

He’s been the overseer to a very successful party in South Carolina.  That might seem to be an easy gig, but Dawson has worked hard and effectively to not only propel the stature of the state party nationally, but repair internal issues as well.  It’s been under his watch that minorities have become more … um… integrated into the GOP fabric.  And Dawson did this without compromising principles.

And, if you haven’t seen it, I recommend Katon Dawson’s webpage.  This is not only a visually appealing site, it’s informative.  I particularly like “The Dawson Plan,” his outline for party reform.  His eleven step approach is a thoughtfully presented, very well written, comprehensive and “doable” strategy.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a comparative website for Michael Steele.

I’d like to see all the RNC Chair candidates endorse the “Rebuild the Party” plan, but it seems Katon Dawson is already working on something very similar.  He’s leveraged the Internet, stated his case and made his ideas and himself available.  There’s actually an email address for him on the site.  I’ve been trying for months to get an email address for Michael Steele, but no luck.  My usual sources either don’t have it or aren’t sharing.  That’s frustrating for me and should be embarrassing to Steele.

Katon Dawson is a winner and he acts like it.  He also acts like he wants to keep on winning and has the ideas to make that happen.

That’s hard to ignore.