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Martinez Elected, Opposition Only A Handful

Posted Jan 19, 2007 by Sean Mussenden, Media General Washington Bureau

Updated Jan 19, 2007 at 01:22 PM

As expected, Florida Sen. Mel Martinez overwhelmingly won the post of national party chairman in an election today.

Martinez, President Bush’s choice for the post, won by voice vote of the committee, with perhaps five voices voting no.

In his speech afterward, he Martinez recounted his personal history as a Cuban refugee who came to Florida, initially without his family, as a teenager.
He called it “a story of the American dream,” and said, “I’m a Republican because I have lived the American dream.”

Martinez told the nearly all white members of the committee that he wants to “take that message to the broader Hispanic community, to the African-American community and to all communities that may never have believed that Republican ideals spoke to them.”

Martinez then got a loud standing ovation.

Prior to the vote, dissenters launched a procedural effort to block the creation of the position of general chairman. It was voted down overwhelmingly.

With Martinez in that post, day-to-day party business will be handled by another official.

Florida party Chairman Carole Jean Jordan said the election “signals a new era for Republicans across the nation, and especially here in Florida.”