By sometime this afternoon, Michael Steele’s campaign admitted on the record that he had been the candidate in question (including to me). A few of us at NR knew right away when reading the piece early this morning that it was Steele, because (among other things) he had said much of what he said at his Monday lunch at Charlie Palmers during an off-the-record session at NR World Headquarters a few weeks ago.

Talking to the campaign earlier today, a spokesman who was at the lunch said he considered the piece a misrepresentation of the overall tone of the lunch. Steele, he said, didn’t “berate” the president over lunch, he “didn’t spend 90 minutes attacking the president.” He “was critical, sure,” but he also praised the president on “growth of the economy, record-low unemployment,” and his speech to the NAACP, among other things.

Steele “would absolutely welcome” the president campaigning for him again and has been “grateful” for his support so far.

The campaign also emphasizes that Steele wasn’t — and doesn’t — rail against Republican specifically, i.e. for headlines. Steele regularly talks about “changing the culture of Washington.”