Steele: A rocky start at RNC

WASHINGTON, May 10 (UPI) -- Michael Steele's first 100 days as head of the GOP has featured fights with Rush Limbaugh on the right and moderate Sen. Olympia Snow of Maine, analysts said.

Steele, the first black chairman of the Republican National Committee, took over when the party had just taken a drubbing at the polls in the 2008 presidential election. In addition to electing Barack Obama, the first black U.S. president, Democrats increased their majorities in the House and Senate.

Sources told The Hill that some top Republicans have had chats with Steele advisers, reminding them that the chairman must put forward the party's views, not his own.

Steele's fracas with Snowe was over the Maine Republican's support for Obama's economic stimulus bill. Snow is one of the last remaining Republican moderates in Congress following Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's defection.

With Limbaugh, Steele first criticized him and then took it back.

Steele supporters say he is likely to finish better than he started.

"It's unfair and inaccurate to characterize a chairmanship until it's over," said Trevor Francis, the committee's communications director.