For $5, the party is peddling a bumper-sticker that does the trick.

The former president’s own emotion-choked conclusion is in replay now.

The four other living past and present presidents have gone their ways.

It’s time, the Republican Party suggests, to “thank W.”

For $5, the party is peddling a bumper-sticker that does the trick.

The party also notes that the four-by-inch vinyl sticker is removable.

Original post is ‘Thanks W:’ Removable Party Sticker by Political Capital.

Photograph by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney delivers remarks during the second day of the 40th annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on March 15, 2013.

Having failed to win the White House, Mitt Romney is using his leftover campaign funds to help the Republicans retain control of the House of Representatives.

Romney’s joint fundraising committee with the Republican National Committee and state parties contributed $743,704 to the House Republicans’ fundraising arm, according to Federal Election Commission records released today.

The National Republican Congressional Committee was the biggest benefactor of the $1.7 million that the fundraising committee distributed to other party groups. Another $361,721 went to the RNC and $139,083 went to the state party in Massachusetts, where Romney served as governor.

Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, lost to President Barack Obama in November.

The committee still had $1.7 million in the bank as of March 31.

Original post is Romney Gives Excess Campaign Cash to House Republicans by Political Capital.

Photograph by Charles Dharapak/AP Photo

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney greets Asian American supporters as he campaigns at Van Dyck park in Fairfax, Va., on Sept. 13, 2012.

Jeb Bush has called Asian-Americans the canary in the Republican Party’s coal mine.

Look past the 71 percent of Hispanic voters who sided with President Barack Obama in November, the Florida Republican has suggested, and one will find the 74 percent of Asian-Americans supporting the Democrat.

Reince Priebus, the Republican National Committee chairman who has commissioned an autopsy of his party’s poor performance last year — not only in the national race, but also in Senate contests in which it could have challenged the Democrats for control of the Senate — is putting some of its findings into play.

As he and the rest of the Republican National Committee head to Los Angeles for their spring meeting  later this week — what the Los Angeles Times calls “a visit meant to illustrate the party’s commitment to broadening its reach even in the bluest of states” — Priebus has announced two new party hires to step up the RNC’s engagement with voters in Asian and Pacific Islander communities.

 The L.A. Times notes: Stephen Fong as national field director and Jason Chung as a national communications director — “the first in a series of changes that will be announced this week as the party’s members debate actions intended to reverse their losses in the 2012 presidential race.”

Fong, a California native, will lead party activists “rooted in the communities they serve to engage people where they live, work, and worship.” Chung, who has worked with Republican candidates in Connecticut, Maryland and Virginia, will oversee outreach to Asian and Pacific Islander media, the Times’ Maeve Reston reports.

“We’ve made a commitment to being a party for every state, every community, and every neighborhood,” Priebus told the Times. “This is one of many steps toward keeping that commitment.”

Original post is RNC’s Asian-American Outreach: Hires by Political Capital.

Photograph by Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Texas delegates during the 2012 Republican National Convention at the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Tampa, Florida on August 30, 2012.

Updated at 9:40 am EDT

A Republican National Committee report says the party should change the way it recruits candidates, talks to voters, uses technology, raises money and reaches out to minorities in an effort to appeal to a broader base of voters and win elections.

Republicans have become too insular, too often sound like bookkeepers and need to be more inclusive in dealing with those who disagree with the party platform on abortion rights and gay marriage, the report, released today, says. Party leaders commissioned the review after 2012 election losses spotlighted demographic and technological shortfalls with Democrats.

“There’s no one reason we lost,” RNC Chairman Reince Priebus says in remarks prepared for delivery this morning at the National Press Club in Washington. “Our message was weak, our ground game was insufficient, we weren’t inclusive, we were behind in both data and digital, our primary and debate process
needed improvement.”

some of the report’s proposed mechanical changes could be accomplished with adequate funding, while those that call for a philosophical pivot to being more accepting of those who disagree with the party’s positions will be harder to enforce.

Those who have strayed from Republican doctrine in recent years have bee penalized by the party’s base in elections.

“Our standard should not be universal purity,” Sally Bradshaw, one of the report’s authors and a longtime consultant to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, said at a briefing today.

The report is often blunt in its findings.

“The Republican Party needs to stop talking to itself,” it says. “We have become expert in how to provide ideological reinforcement to like-minded people, but devastatingly we have lost the ability to be persuasive with, or welcoming to, those who do not agree with us on every issue.”

The report calls for the party to be more inclusive, or risk becoming further marginalized.

“When it comes to social issues, the party must in fact and deed be inclusive and welcoming,” the report says. “If we are not, we will limit our ability to attract young people and others, including many women, who agree with us on some but not all issues.”

The report suggests no more than a dozen debates should be held during the primary season, with the first no earlier than Sept. 1, 2015. It also says the party should consider penalizing candidates through the loss of convention delegates if they don’t abide by the party’s debate structure.

On wooing more women voters, the report calls for the creation of a surrogate list based on their policy and political expertise and calls on the RNC’s media team to focus on “booking more women on TV on behalf of the party and be given metrics to ensure that we aren’t just using the same old talking heads.”

The party also needs to “educate Republicans on the importance of developing and tailoring a message that is non-inflammatory and inclusive to all,” the report says.

On immigration, the report calls on the party to “embrace and champion comprehensive” changes.

“If we do not, our party’s appeal will continue to shrink to its core constituencies only,” it says. “Comprehensive
immigration reform is consistent with Republican economic policies that promote job growth and opportunity for all.”

In courting younger voters, the report says Republican leaders need to more actively participate in interviews on the programs they watch. It also calls for all party digital and data efforts to have the young voter as a major focus.

To match the Democrats’ advantage in technology, the RNC should hire a chief technology and digital officer by May 1, the report says.

It also calls for the creation of a data platform for the party that would be accessible to all qualified Republican
organizations and campaigns as a way to share voter information.

The report also recommends a more populist tone.

“We have to blow the whistle at corporate malfeasance and attack corporate welfare,” it says. “We should speak out when a company liquidates itself and its executives receive bonuses, but rank-and-file workers are left unemployed. We should speak out when CEOs receive tens of millions of dollars in retirement packages but middle-class workers have not had a meaningful raise in years.”

Formally known as the Growth and Opportunity Project, the effort was initiated by Priebus on Dec. 10 as a way to study how Republicans can find more electoral success — from the local level to Congress and the presidency.

The study group’s members included Bradshaw; Henry Barbour, nephew of former Mississippi governor and RNC chairman Haley Barbour; Ari Fleischer, White House press secretary under President George W. Bush;  and RNC members Zori Fonalledas of Puerto Rico and Glenn McCall of South Carolina. Priebus also said he wants to see the party’s national convention, typically held in late August or early September in presidential election years, moved to June or July.

In an interview yesterday on the “Face the Nation” program on CBS, he argued that 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney was hampered by his inability to use funds slated for after he was formally nominated to defend himself against Democratic attacks ahead of a late-August convention.

Earlier this year, Priebus also called for less frequent presidential primary debates, telling Bloomberg News in January that he’d like to see far fewer than the more than 20 held in 2011 and 2012 during the Republican primary.

Before any of the proposed fixes can take full effect, Republican leaders may face their internal fissures that have led to the nomination of candidates viewed by independent voters as too extreme.

Some Republicans unhappy with losses in 2012 are pushing for a new core message and moderation on social issues and views on how to deal with undocumented immigrants, while others arearguing the party needs to stick to principles.

That tension was on display this past weekend at the Conservative Political Action Conference near Washington, where most of the speakers called on the party to stick to its core beliefs and there was no indication the party base is willing to change the type of candidates it backs.

Exit polls of voters in the Nov. 6 election showed President Barack Obama dominated Romney among single women, Hispanics, blacks and younger voters en route to carrying eight of nine states both camps viewed as the most competitive. Obama won 71 percent of the Hispanic vote, the exit polls showed. That translated to a 44-percentage-point advantage over Romney, who won just 27 percent of the Hispanic vote — down from 31 percent for the party’s presidential ticket in 2008, 44 percent in 2004 and 35 percent in 2000.

Blunting those Democratic advantages is critical for Republicans, as Hispanics are the fastest growing minority bloc of voters and the party risks losing much of an entire generation if they can’t appeal to younger voters.
One area not directly addressed by the study group is how the party goes about selecting its candidates for statewide races in the era of the anti-tax Tea Party movement.

Losses by Tea Party-backed U.S. Senate candidates in Missouri and Indiana who drew controversy with comments about rape and pregnancy cost Republicans seats that they were poised to win a year before the election. When combined with similar defeats in 2010, some Republicans have complained that the primary fights that led to Democratic victories prevented them from gaining control of the Senate.

“The squabbling among Republicans turns off people who are not Republicans, and so we’ve got to stop this circular firing squad and recognize that we all need each other if we are going to have a chance of winning a presidential election again,” Republican pollster Whit Ayres said in an interview before the report’s release. “It’s the message, it’s the messenger, and it’s the tone. Some people like to delude themselves into thinking the message has been just fine; we just need to communicate it better. If that’s the case, you don’t lose 5 of 6
popular votes in presidential elections.”

Original post is RNC Told: Fewer Debates, More Populism, More Women on TV by Political Capital.

Photograph by Patrick Fallon/Zuma Press

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal in Iowa.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is a “shining star” of the Republican Party, “someone you can believe in,” Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said last night in Charlotte as he introduced the RNC winter convention’s keynote speaker.

Jindal proceeded to call his party “stupid” and advise that while it doesn’t need to change its principles, it does need to change just about everything else.

A governor who embraces a wonk persona, Jindal suggested a seven-point plan of action. It was filled with blunt talk: “Stop being the stupid party” and “stop insulting the intelligence of voters.”

Republicans have become too focused on the size of the federal government, he said. The party can reclaim its mantle of “growth and opportunity” by paying more attention to what’s going on outside the Washington Beltway.

Jindal spoke so rapidly that he barely took a breath between sentences.

He didn’t need to pause for applause; there was little.

The lukewarm response to exhortations to change makes some sense: Despite Republicans’ failure to oust the president or capture the Senate, the same group that listened to Jindal last night will today re-elect Priebus.

Original post is Jindal’s Warning to ‘The Stupid Party’ by Political Capital.

Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

The Lincoln Memorial in Washington.

As Republican National Committee members meet in Charlotte to plot a way toward more electoral success, state parties are copying the national party’s reinvention study.

Pat Brady, chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, announced today that he’s forming his own Illinois Republican Party “Growth and Opportunity Project,” mirroring the name being used by the national party’s study effort.

In a statement, Brady said he was forming the committee to “conduct an in-depth analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the 2012 election cycle efforts” and “develop a comprehensive plan for the 2014 and 2016 elections.”

The RNC’s Growth and Opportunity Project was formed Dec. 10 by national Chairman Reince Priebus. Those working on the effort, which is focused on finding a more winning formula for the GOP from the local level to Congress and the presidency, are scheduled to brief reporters this afternoon on their progress. The group’s findings are expected to be released in March.

Finding a winning formula for Illinois Republicans in presidential races is an uphill battle. President Barack Obama won his home state by 16 percentage points in November, and Illinois hasn’t backed a Democrat for president since 1988.

Brady is pitching the reinvention study as part of an effort to try to retake the governor’s office from Pat Quinn, a Democrat with low job approval ratings who may be vulnerable.

“The Illinois Republican Party, the party of Abraham Lincoln, is at a critical point in its history,” he said. “The unfortunate reality is, that Illinois is run by Chicago Democrats who have brought our state to the brink of financial collapse and have exhibited no inclination towards getting our fiscal house in order.”

Original post is Republican Re-branding Mirrored by States: ‘Lincoln Republicans’ by Political Capital.

Photograph by Bob Daemmrich/Corbis

Henry Barbour

Henry Barbour, nephew of the former Republican National Committee chairman and one-time Mississippi governor, wants to see his party grow and win again at the national level.

In a wide-ranging interview in his office in Jackson, Mississippi, Barbour talked about his role on an RNC study group charged with conducting an autopsy of what went wrong with the party’s efforts to win the White House in November.

On immigration, Barbour said the party needs to soften its tone.

“Too many times we come across as hostile,” he said during an interview at his office and at a diner a few blocks away.

“I think that’s true with Hispanics,” he said. “Too often, the most vocal people in our party are the ones who come across as anti-immigration, not even anti-illegal, but just plain anti-immigration. We’ve got to change that.”

See the full story on Barbour and the RNC’s Growth and Opportunity Project at Bloomberg.com.

Original post is Barbour 2.0: Republican Renewal by Political Capital.

Photograph by Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg

Delegates sit at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Tampa.

The Republican National Committee has created a study group to examine ways to improve the party’s image and win more elections.

The initiative, called the Growth and Opportunity Project, was announced today by party chairman Reince Priebus and comes after the November election revealed demographic, messaging and technological shortfalls in the competition with Democrats.

The effort will focus on eight areas: campaign mechanics and ground game, messaging, fundraising, demographic partners and allies, third-party groups, campaign finance issues, presidential primaries and lessons learned from Democratic campaign tactics.

Priebus appointed five party leaders to chair the group, including Mississippi National Committeeman Henry Barbour, Puerto Rico National Committeewoman Zori Fonalledas, South Carolina National Committeeman Glenn McCall, Florida and national political strategist Sally Bradshaw and former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer.

Bradshaw is a longtime political consultant to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and Fleischer served the governor’s brother, former President George W. Bush, as a press secretary. Bradshaw also came up in politics working for their father, former President George H.W. Bush.

The group will reach out to hundreds of individuals, including RNC Members, grassroots activists, donors, elected officials, community leaders and others to gain insight and help the Republican Party form a solid path forward.

“I look forward to working with these outstanding Republicans as they conduct rigorous analysis and engage in important conversations,” Priebus said in a statement. “The work of the Growth and Opportunity Project will be critical as we move forward as a party and take our message to every American.”

Priebus is seeking a second term as the party’s chairman and will face election next month at a gathering in Charlotte, the city where Democrats held their national convention nominating President Barack Obama for a second term in September.

Original post is RNC Asks What Went Wrong — Working on Getting it Right in 2016 by Political Capital.

Photograph by Charles Dharapak/AP Photo

Supporter Annie Lin, from Salem, Va., center, wearing plastic Romney lawn signs, cheers Mitt Romney at a campaign event at Integrity Windows in Roanoke, Va., on Nov. 1, 2012.

“This is an election of consequence,” Republican Mitt Romney said today in Roanoke, at the start of a campaign day in Virginia — the first full day of a resumed campaign fight following the onslaught of Hurricane Sandy.

President Barack  Obama, too, is returning to the campaign trail.

“He has a campaign slogan that says `Forward’ — I think forewarned is a better word,” Romney said of Obama at his opening Roanoke morning rally. “Do you want four more years like the last four years?”

“How about four more years of gridlock in Washington?” Romney asked. “There’s really no question, in my mind, that we can’t afford another four years like the last four years.”

“I know the Obama people are chanting `four more years,” he said. “`Our chant is this: `five more days.”’

(That’s the theme of a Republican National Committee campaign ad.) 

And the campaign crowd chanted the prompt in chorus.

“We’re going to have to come up with a better slogan tomorrow,” the candidate joked, “or a different one, at least.”

Original post is Romney: `Five More Days’ by Political Capital.

Photograph by Emmanuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images

Mitt Romney greets supporters during a campaign rally at Metropolitan Park in Jacksonville, Florida, on Oct. 31, 2012.

Only five days left, the Republican National Committee ad says of the presidential election.

“We believe in America,” Republican nominee Mitt Romney is shown saying in this get-out-the-vote commercial.

It touts the editorial endorsements of Romney by the Orlando Sentinel and Des Moines Register, two newspapers in the heart of two of the hardest-fought states.

It says “momentum is building” — though the momentum that Romney found coming out of the first presidential debate appears to have stalled in daily tracking polls by ABC News and the Washington Post which have shown the contest between Romney and President Barack Obama virtually tied or dead even for several days among likely voters surveyed nationwide.

“We can’t let up now,” the Republican ad says.

Original post is Republican `Momentum’ Ad: Romney by Political Capital.