Kevin Igoe, a veteran Republican strategist from Maryland, has been named to a top position at the Republican National Committee by Chairman Michael Steele.

Igoe, who helped Steele get the job back in January, will be the RNC's deputy chief of staff.

“I am excited to have such an outstanding and accomplished person become a part of our team. Kevin’s many years of private and public service will be extremely helpful in his new role as Deputy Chief of Staff. I look forward to working with him as the RNC charts a course to enable Republican candidates to compete and win,” Steele said in a statement.

The low-key political operative from Owings has a record of involvement in Maryland politics that stretches back to 1980, when he ran unsuccessfully for Congress in the 5th District against Democratic Rep. Gladys Spellman (who, it must be reported, was in a coma at the time, from which she never recovered).

Igoe worked as a HUD lobbyist during the Reagan administration and has done a couple of stints as a staff aide on Capitol Hill. He was the executive director of the Maryland Republican Party in the early 1990s. He also helped direct Ellen Sauerbrey's nearly successful gubernatorial campaign in 1994 and joined the Bush/Cheney recount army in Florida following the 2000 election.