Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, whose party just lost both chambers of Congress, will leave his position in January, and the post as party chief has been offered to Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele.

"It is true," Mr. Mehlman told The Washington Times when asked about reports last night that he would resign. "It's something I decided over the summer. No one told me I needed to. In fact, folks wanted me to stay."

Mr. Mehlman said he "told the White House over the summer it was my decision" to leave the RNC post, "win, lose or draw."

In December 2000, he was elected Chair of the Maryland Republican Party, the first African American to be elected Republican state party chair in the United States. In 2001, Mr. Steele served on the National Commission on Federal Election Reform. Other affiliations include service on the NAACP's Blue Ribbon Panel on Election Reform, the Board of Directors of The Hospice of the National Capital Area, and membership in the Knights of Columbus, the Prince George's County Chapter of the NAACP, and the Johns Hopkins Society of Black Alumni. He is a former member of the Board of Trustees of The Johns Hopkins University.

But they said that President Bush's political adviser Karl Rove, who is Mr. Mehlman's mentor, would rather see Mr. Steele serve in the president's Cabinet, perhaps as secretary of Housing and Urban Development. These officials said no one has actually offered Mr. Steele either the RNC post or a Cabinet post.

Steele spokesman Doug Heye said last night that "I don't know of any conversations that Lt. Gov. Steele has had on this topic, but I can tell you that there are many people who have said he would be an ideal candidate, based on the race he ran this year."

"I talked to him very briefly about it today. He has not made any decisions yet about what he will do next. He is still focused on his role as lieutenant governor," Mr. Heye said.

With all due respect to the White House, both Steele and the Republicans would be better served with Steele at the helm of the RNC. He instantly gives more credibility to Republican outreach efforts to minority communities, a key goal after years of writing them off as lost causes. He brings experience, as he has served as Maryland's Republican chair in the past, and after the midterms, the RNC needs someone with some seasoning from the trenches. He would have a much higher national profile at the RNC than he would stuck in the DC bureaucracy, perhaps even positioning him for a governorship or a Presidential run farther down the road.

MAHER: [Ted Haggard] Talks to the White House every — usually about gay bashing. Well, I mean, not to put too fine a point on it, but I do think that when a party is so divided against itself, eventually that comes to the fore.

It's so ironic. Republicans, the anti-abortion party, always trying to kill something inside of themselves. And Frank Rich (ph) wrote about this a couple of weeks ago. He said, yes, we've heard about Mark Foley, and then every week, it seemed another Congressman was outed. But he said, that's just the beginning of it. A lot of the chiefs of staff, the people who really run the underpinnings of the Republican Party are gay. I don't want to mention names, but I will on Friday night.

KING: You will Friday night?

MAHER: Well, there's a couple of big people who I think everyone in Washington knows who run the Republican...

KING: You will name them?

MAHER: Well, I wouldn't be the first. I'd get sued if I was the first. (A PORTION OF THIS TRANSCRIPT HAS BEEN REMOVED)

KING: ... why would someone who is gay take public anti-gay positions? Why would you do that?

MAHER: Because, Larry, hating yourself is the greatest love of all. Self-loathing.

KING: Great way to close out this segment. It's poignant.