Who could make a room full of conservatives stand up and applaud the recipient of a "God, I Hate America" award?

Michael S. Steele, that's who.

At the Media Research Center's annual "Dishonor Awards" banquet last night, a crowd of about 1,000 red-meat conservatives offered a standing ovation to Mr. Steele as he -- tongue firmly in cheek -- "accepted" the dubious award for Arthur Sulzberger Jr., publisher of the New York Times.

Mr. Sulzberger's recent commencement speech, in which he railed against the Iraq war, secured him the "dishonor."

For his part, Mr. Steele, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland who lost a U.S. Senate bid last year, won more applause when he described himself as a "proud, black, Catholic, conservative Republican" and announced that he will be a candidate again.

"There are still some Democrats out there I haven't ticked off yet," he said to even more applause.

But he kept it real too, noting the Republicans' loss of majorities in the House and Senate in the wake of several congressional scandals last year.

"Voters gave us the keys in the 1994, and they took them back briefly in 2006," Mr. Steele said. "I want those seats back."

-- Christina Bellantoni, Capitol Hill correspondent, The Washington Times