The Republican party, which has precisely zero black members in national elected office, has elected former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele as its first black party chair. It took six ballots for Steele to win; in the final, he defeated South Carolinian Katon Dawson, whose previous membership in an all-white country club plagued his candidacy.As Steele doesn’t appear to be much of a culture warrior, reasonable people everywhere can take hope that his election will mean a move away from the urbanite-vilifying, thinly-veiled racism of the Sarah Palin/George Allen/(insert name here) brand.Steele’s campaigns in Maryland have engaged in some sketchy practices, including paying and busing in “300 mostly poor African Americans from Philadelphia” to hand out “sample ballots” in predominantly black areas. The ballots made it look like Steele and Robert Ehrlich, both Republicans, were part of the Democratic ticket. It’s worth noting that Ehrlich and his opponent, Martin O’Malley, were both sources of inspiration for characters on the HBO crime drama, The Wire. Sadly, The Wire didn’t give us anyone based on Michael Steele.