This site tracking public commitments to the six candidates for RNC chairman suggests that, contrary to some suggestions, Chip Saltsman's "Barack the Magic Negro" stunt hasn't exactly given him a boost. Here's the breakdown:
Saul Anuzis - 13,
Ken Blackwell - 12
Katon Dawson - 11
Michael Steele - 10
Mike Duncan - 9
Chip Saltsman - 1
On the other hand, maybe that Bradley Effect we spent the presidential campaign waiting on is finally showing up...
For what it's worth, Saltsman himself thinks the move hurt him. From Adam Nagourney's piece about the RNC race:
Mr. Saltsman declined to renounce or apologize for sending out the parody song, saying it was a harmless joke. (Mr. Blackwell and Mr. Steele said they found nothing offensive about it.) Nonetheless, he said, the episode had hurt him.
“I don’t think it helped,” he said. “But I think we’ve gotten past it and people kind of see it for what it is, and what it was, and now my challenge is to talk about the future of the Republican Party.”
(Via Ben Smith.)
--Noam Scheiber