Abramoff Legacy to Chair RNC

Liz Sidoti for AP reports Florida Sen. Mel Martinez, a prominent Hispanic who previously served in President Bush's Cabinet, will assume the high-profile post of Republican National Committee general chairman, GOP officials said Monday. Martinez, 60, will remain in the Senate when he takes the reins of the RNC in January, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting a formal announcement. The first-term senator will be the face of the party, focusing on fundraising, outreach and travel to promote the GOP agenda. At the same time, Mike Duncan, the RNC's current general counsel and a former party treasurer, will be named chairman and will be put in charge of running the everyday operations at the party's Capitol Hill headquarters, the officials said. Paul Kiel for TPM Muckraker has a rundown on the Martinez/Abramoff connection, and David Donelly for the Public Campaign Action Fund calls attention to yet other crooked money arrangements from which Martinez has profited.