A close call for Steele's ‘drill baby drill' line

Former Lt. Gov. Michael Steele: Getty Images PhotoST. PAUL, Minn. - Former Lt. Gov. Michael Steele's most memorable line during his 2008 Republican National Convention speech almost got dumped on the ride there.

"Let me make it very clear. Drill baby drill, and drill now," said Steele -- the current chair of GOPAC -- during his address on Wednesday. The line was quickly picked up by the crowd, who began chanting "drill baby drill" almost instantly.

It was Belinda Cook - GOPAC's special assistant to the chairman - who encouraged Steele to leave the line in the speech.

"This is the little interesting part," Steele told PolitickerMD.com at the at the Embassy Suites hotel. "On the way to the convention I turned to Belinda. I said, ‘You know I probably should take that out,' and she's like ‘Leave it.' I said ‘Well I don't know if it makes sense -- you know -- the flow.' She said leave it in. So I left it in."

Steele was crafting his speech at the break of dawn when the line popped into his head.

"It came to me. It just flowed," he said. "I wanted to sum it up in a way that I'd heard it around the country."

Steele called the whole experience "way cool."

"What was different about last night was it's a much more intimate space," said Steele. "I was looking over at the Maryland delegation and they were - like - there!"

Steele served as then-Gov. Bob Ehrlich's second in command from 2002 to 2006. He made an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate in 2006 against U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Baltimore).

He has been an active surrogate for John McCain in recent weeks. His name was even kicked around as a potential running mate for McCain before Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) landed the No. 2 spot on the ticket.