Is Rush Limbaugh GOP royalty?

The Rush Rumble is growing.

Political chatterers left and right were electric Tuesday over Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele's apology to Rush Limbaugh -- the third Republican leader in weeks to very publicly back away from a disagreement with the talk-show host.

What got the chatter going was a long and cheer-prompting speech that Limbaugh gave Feb. 28 to the Conservative Political Action Conference. Critics say the speech "doubled down" on earlier remarks that Limbaugh wanted President Obama to fail.

And they have noted how the White House is clearly trying to tattoo the GOP as a bunch of radical dittoheads.

"It's in the Democratic Party's best interest to portray Limbaugh, a talk-show host, as the intellectual leader of the Republican Party," said Mike Shanin, whose KMBZ talk show in Kansas City was dominated by the Limbaugh rush.

Mary O'Halloran, a former talk-show host and a Democrat, said the strategy was working because it was true.

"He's clearly the head of the Republican Party," she said, " ... who speaks without fear of contradiction."

The nationally syndicated radio host was back at the microphone this week, telling listeners that he was misunderstood.

"I am an average citizen. ... I have a microphone," Limbaugh said. "I am not in charge of one Republican policy."

It may sound like a rare blast of humility from a personality who often claims to have borrowed his talent from God. Earlier this year he claimed Obama was "obviously more frightened of me than he is Mitch McConnell. He's more frightened of me, than he is of, say, John Boehner, which doesn't say much about our party."

He was talking about the Republican minority leaders in the Senate and House.

It is clear Republicans do not want to be seen crossing him.

GOP National Committee chairman Steele on Feb. 28 called the "entertainer's" talk show "incendiary" and "ugly." Liberal bloggers immediately started laying bets on how many days it would take for him to apologize.

Two, it turned out.

On the air Monday, Limbaugh hammered Steele: "So I am an entertainer and I have 20 million listeners because of my great song-and-dance routine. Michael Steele, you are head of the Republican National Committee. You are not head of the Republican Party. Tens of millions of conservatives and Republicans have nothing to do with the Republican National Committee ... and when you call them asking for money, they hang up on you."

Steele got the message.

"My intent was not to go after Rush -- I have enormous respect for Rush Limbaugh," he said Monday. "I was maybe a little bit inarticulate."

Many see Limbaugh filling a vacuum in a party trying to find its feet after losing elections and power in Washington.

Democrats think they can work with that.

White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel took a Sunday-talking-head shot, saying Limbaugh "hopes for failure."

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs was ready to pick up the theme: "I think it would be charitable to say he doubled down on what he said in January in wishing and hoping for economic failure in this country."

Limbaugh said he wished failure for Obama's liberal policies, not the economy.

Local Republicans said the spat may distract the public from focusing on the economy and budget debates -- and could end up hurting the GOP.

"The Democrats are trying to fit whatever Rush Limbaugh says into the Republican brand," said Christian Morgan, executive director of the Kansas GOP.

"I think they're trying to find someone to hook the party onto and say this is what the party is," said former GOP congressional candidate Nick Jordan, who accused Democrats of fighting a "straw man."

On Tuesday, Limbaugh took on the subject of any such Democratic scheme: "This notion that Democrats are picking a fight with me and playing me, taking the focus off the conservative ideas in the Republican Party? Folks, that's the point. There aren't many conservative ideas in the Republican Party right now."

Limbaugh, who once broadcast in Kansas City, clearly has spoken without fear of almost anything for years.

He bounced back from a prescription drug abuse scandal and mocking actor Michael J. Fox's symptom of Parkinson's disease.

Republicans pointed to that history in suggesting White House attacks on Limbaugh could backfire in 2010.

Last summer, his contract was extended through 2016 -- $38 million a year with a "nine-figure signing bonus." His audience is at least 16 million, weighted toward male listeners who tend to vote Republican.

Kobach and other radio talkers said that was where the chatter would help Limbaugh where it counted -- in listeners.

"I actually think the Democrats make a mistake in engaging Limbaugh," Stigall said. "Republicans have already been marginalized -- they lost the election. I think all this helps is Limbaugh, and frankly it bolsters his audience. ... I think it does him a world of favors."

Liberal groups seem happy to keep him in the headlines. Americans United for Change said it would air a new ad urging viewers to call the GOP and "just say no to the politics of Rush Limbaugh."

Some Republicans think it could play into their hands.

"I'm sort of glad to see the Republican Party is alive and kicking, even if we're kicking each other," GOP strategist Tony Blankley said on CNN.

"At least there's signs of life in the old party."

dhelling@kcstar.com