The race for RNC chair is starting to feel like the run-up to the Iowa caucuses. Some notes on the latest developments:

-- The Washington Times' Ralph Z. Hallow, plugged in to the RNC as he is, floats Newt Gingrich as holding a passive interest in the gig while ex-Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele, now chair of GOPAC, sports a much more active interest.

-- Steele has some sort of organization backing him already, as a DC-based communications firm passes along the new DraftMichaelSteele.com website. The site looks grass-roots, and the folks at Marsh Copsey & Associates, the Republican consulting firm who shot it around to reporters, say they're not behind it. Steele is making calls to RNC members to gauge support but he hasn't made a final decision yet, says one friend of the GOPAC chairman.

-- One source who follows the race closely tells Politics Nation that Gingrich may not want to actually run for the position, but that if it is offered, he'd take it. Hallow reports Gingrich is letting others make the calls for him. Gingrich, yet again, declined a request for an interview with RCP.

-- Michigan Republican Party chairman Saul Anuzis has started making phone calls to gauge support, Hallow writes and multiple sources confirm to Politics Nation. Anuzis has been coy about his hopes for the chairmanship, but observers have said all along not to count him out.

-- South Carolina party chair Katon Dawson's big gathering in Myrtle Beach this weekend will be the lowest-profile of three prominent GOP get-togethers -- the other two being the Republican Governors Association meeting in Miami that kicks off tomorrow and House leadership elections slated for next week. But it'll be a coming-out party for Dawson and other RNC insiders who want to run for chair (Remember, there are only 168 votes that matter, and neither Gingrich nor Steele has one). Anuzis, Florida GOP chair Jim Greer and others will be there.

-- Mike Huckabee is injecting himself into the race, making phone calls on behalf of ex-manager Chip Saltsman, who told Politics Nation a few weeks back that he's taking a hard look at the contest.

-- And while some Republicans complain they're falling far behind Democrats on the technological front, at least they know something about Facebook. Gingrich, Steele, Huckabee, Saltsman, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, ex-Rep. Jim Nussle, Sarah Palin and John Sununu each have Facebook groups dedicated to their candidacies, real or imagined.