Ohio GOP chairman feuds with McCain, party

MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- The head of the Ohio GOP appears to have backpedaled on threats to retaliate against national party leaders for scuttling a 2012 primary calendar reform plan.

Ohio GOP Chairman Robert Bennett was angered over the Republican National Committee's rejection Thursday of a proposal designed to prevent states from moving their primaries earlier in the next presidential primary-caucus season, The Washington Times reported Friday.

The plan, supported by Bennett and others, was lobbied against by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

"If they don't think there will be retaliation, they're crazy," Bennett reportedly told RNC members, the Times said.

After the proposal's rejection, Bennett issued a formal statement, saying he "blamed the presidential campaign of John McCain and the RNC Chair Robert M. 'Mike' Duncan for the defeat."

Bennett later told The Washington Times he wasn't threatening retaliation against McCain's efforts in Ohio, a battleground state.

The RNC was conducting its annual summer meeting in Minneapolis. The Republican nominating convention begins Monday across the Mississippi River in Minnesota's capital, St. Paul.