GOP Governors See Bleak Future For Party

Washington Post: After Election Losses, Republican Governors Try To Plan For The Future At Meeting In Florida

(Washington Post)  This story was written by Robert Barnes

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Republican governors were the brightest spot in an otherwise dispiriting election last week for the GOP, but the chief executives gathered here Wednesday provided a gloomy assessment of their party's failures and a dark forecast for the future.

The Republican Party is ill situated to serve a changing America, they said. Members make excuses for corruption. The Bush administration and congressional leaders are fiscally irresponsible and have ceded the tax issue -- of all issues -- to the Democrats. Large swaths of the country are off limits to GOP candidates. Republicans have lost the technology advantage, and if they were part of a corporation, "heads would roll." It's going to be worse in 2010.

The Republican Governors Association, meeting at a sleek hotel on Biscayne Bay to survey the damage, itself is a thinned version of what it was in the heyday of GOP dominance of national politics. There will be 21 GOP governors come January, a loss of one, and only 16 of them made the trip.

They are convinced that their counterparts in Washington are incapable of finding a formula for resurgence and that the answer lies in the states.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty -- passed over by Sen. John McCain for the No. 2 spot on the presidential ticket and one of nine GOP governors who preside over states won by Barack Obama -- offered a summary of his party's predicament at the governors' opening lunch.

"We cannot be a majority governing party when we essentially cannot compete in the Northeast, we are losing our ability to compete in Great Lakes states, we cannot compete on the West Coast, we are increasingly in danger of competing in the mid-Atlantic states, and the Democrats are now winning some of the Western states," Pawlenty said. "That is not a formula for being a majority governing party in this nation."

As if that weren't enough, he ticked off a few more challenges.

"Similarly we cannot compete, and prevail, as a majority governing party if we have a significant deficit, as we do, with women, where we have a large deficit with Hispanics, where we have a large deficit with African American voters, where we have a large deficit with people of modest incomes and modest financial circumstances. Those are not factors that make up a formula for success going forward."

Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, at 37 the youngest of the group, was more succinct: "They fired us with cause." He was referring to the loss of at least six senators and more than 20 House members, the first time since 1932 that the party has lost so many seats in consecutive elections.

A phrase heard repeatedly in the hallways was that the next Republican president -- and there are plenty who would like the job -- was in the room, or at least in the hotel. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain's running mate and the most well-known attendee, skipped the lunch to do a sit-down with CNN and was last seen surrounded three-deep by reporters and cameras before disappearing into an elevator.

She is scheduled to hold a news conference Thursday morning and then give an analysis in a session titled "Looking Towards the Future."

It is likely to be a more upbeat affair than the seminar she missed, "An In-Depth Evaluation of the 2008 Election Cycle."

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who took over the Republican National Committee under similarly dim circumstances after President Bill Clinton's 1992 election, tried to temper the downbeat assessments with some history.

He pointed out that only once since World War II has a party won a third consecutive presidential term. He noted President Bush's unpopularity and the "financial system's cataclysm" and said, all things considered, he thought McCain "got a pretty good vote." He noted the dark days that followed Watergate. "I have looked down at the grave of the Republican Party, and this ain't it," he said.

Others noted that after Clinton's victory in 1992, Republicans took control of Congress in 1994.

That, however, was about it for happy talk.

Pollster and communications guru Frank Luntz detailed the party's problems with voters 18 to 29 years old and said Obama's campaign was far ahead of McCain's in using new media to reach those voters.

"He's got 10 million e-mail names," Luntz said of Obama. He then held up a BlackBerry and added: "Our candidate doesn't know how to use this."

Jindal, an Indian American and one of the party's brightest hopes for ethnic outreach, said Republicans have failed to inspire. "We should stand for the American dream," he said.

He blamed the administration and congressional leaders for cutting taxes without cutting spending and for not offering solutions besides "the other side's worse," and he said the party must "stop making excuses for corruption." He named Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who has been convicted of unlawfully accepting gifts but whose reelection race is very tight.

Gov. Dave Heineman of Nebraska was ready to take Jindal up on the challenge. "I think he ought to resign today," Heineman said of Stevens, and asked his fellow governors if they wanted to make a similar statement. "Do we have the courage to do that?"

There was silence at the table.

Criticism came from others as well. Former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman, a close McCain adviser, said, "Republicans are losing market share at an alarming rate," mentioning young voters and Hispanics as particular concerns. If there were such losses at a corporation, she said, "heads would roll."

Although some polling at the end of the campaign suggested Palin was a drag on the ticket, her fellow governors treated any question about her gingerly. They praised her for energizing the base, and moved quickly to extol Obama's speechmaking skills and his extraordinary fundraising advantage.

As for the way back, Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said the governors have a chance to show how to apply Republican principles of fiscal conservatism and smaller government to practical problems. He said they should concentrate on "issues that really matter" to voters, such as education, energy, the environment and health care.

Pawlenty said that although Republicans idolize Ronald Reagan, some would balk at the compromises he made. "One of the things that gets glossed over is his pragmatism," he said. "He got stuff done, and he compromised to do it."

Research editor Alice Crites in Washington contributed to this report.

[hennighg]

kansas1946 is SO right. From Cheney to Rumsfeld and on down to that fat guy on the radio and even some of the voters (if they even voted) who talk about them they are a very mean lot. The republicans forgot America. It isn''t THEIR America, it''s everyone''s. Those ideals that made the US great that they find so inconvenient are IMPORTANT to Americans, even at the cost of a little money.

[babooph]

After all that work ,selling Obama as a Marxist,Moslem,terrorist-AND THEN LOSING TO HIM!!!!---the republicans need a HARD look inward !!The US voter liked him better than their true hero !

[kansas1946]

You want to know why your party has a "bleak future?"
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(AP) A county treasurer who lost her bid for a fourth term last week to a 20-year-old Dartmouth College student from Montana blames her failed candidacy on "brainwashed college kids."

Republican Carol Elliott said students just voted for the Democratic ticket, which included Dartmouth junior Vanessa Sievers. Sievers won by nearly 600 votes out of 42,000 cast after targeting voters at Dartmouth and Plymouth State University through a $42 ad on the Web site Facebook.

"It was the brainwashed college kids that made the difference," Elliott, 66, told the Valley News of Lebanon. She said she had little faith that Sievers will fulfill her duties adequately.

"You''ve got a teenybopper for a treasurer," said Elliott, who has held the position for six years. "I''m concerned for the citizens of Grafton County."
**********************************************

You have a whole load of folks just like this. Arrogan, hateful, judgemental, and just downright unlikeable.

It seems to me that it wasn''t that many decades ago that the south and the democrats parted ways - largely over separation of church and state issues, if I recall correctly. Now the south (thanks to the idiot-son) has given the republicans a big gut ache. Gonna be interesting to see where they go next.

[misha128-2009]

Posted by misands at 04:40 PM : Nov 13, 2008

Don''t forget that Alaska should be charged for the original purchase price and all improvements inflation adjusted.

[pjc27]

The need to have that blunder brain shut the hell up and find someone from within who can actually speak and think to lead whatever it is they are going to try to do.

This woamn is clearly not only insane but her head will soon explode from the conveit it is overflowing with.

[misands]

The North and West should just secede from the south and set up your own country - you could even let the South have alaska

The new Northern/ Western Nation would be led by Obama / Biden - the south by Mclame / Palin - Posted by cause_y

Sounds great to me, but they have to take part of the nation''s debt with them since they are the region that loves to spend tons of money on the military but refuse to pay the taxes that pay for it. They always seem to forget that a lot of the money that pays for the roads they drive on, the military they love, and the social security they come to depend on comes from the money generated on the two ''liberal'' coasts and in the Midwest.

[misands]

Well, then, I tell you what, now that all the industry workers and the UAW have ruined any chances for manufacturing in the US....please don''''t run down south when you''''re looking for a new job....stay up there and make your own jobs. -Posted by FromTexwLove

Wow! For a group of people (Southerners) that brag about how patroitic they are and how much they love America, it''s posts like this that remind the rest of us that they may profess to love America but they hate the majority of Americans. FromTexwLove, thank you for proving what a group of ignorant and hatefilled people the majority of you down South are. By the way, the Civil War, it ended 143 years ago and you lost!!! Don''t you think it''s time for you guys to grow-up, get over it, and join the rest of us who are living in the 21st century. You can''t really call yourselves patriot if you are still flying the rebel flag that was meant to destroy the good ol'' USA.

[misands]

I think that the GOP has really become a Southern redneck party that only represents the good-ole-boy mentality of Dixie. They''ve dumb-downed their base to the point that they are left primarily with only fools, bigots, and reactionaries. It''s a sad thing to see because I think most of us would like two semi-sane parties to choose from, but the way the GOP is now, I feel like I have to vote for the Democrats by default.
Advice to the GOP:
1. Stop trying to own Jesus. Most of us prefer Jesus to be left out of the political arena.
2. No more trying to divide America into ''real America'' and the rest of America. Got news for you - IT''S ALL REAL AMERICA.
3. Tone down the drawl and swagger. It''s cute for a cartoon character, not a national political party.
4. Rush has never been right. Encouraging your base to listen to rable-rousers and stone-throwers like Rush and Bill O''Reily only further dumb-down your base and make them out of touch with what''s really going on in America.
5. Quit taking the opposite side of every initiative the Democrats support. You''ve allowed them to push you on the oppostive side of many issues the people support the Dems on.
6. Joe-the-plumber, Joe-six-pack, NASCAR dad, security moms, and hockey moms are not the people most of us want running the country. We need skilled people with the education and experience to govern.
I wish the GOP real luck in finding their soul.

[usclimey]

Another thing the Repub''s have to do to make themselves palatable to the centrists (the ones who actually win elections for you) apart from cutting ties with the evangelical right is to fire the loudmouths on radio and Fox. There''s nothing more off-putting for an independant who wants to know about the republican party to turn on Hannity, O''Reilly or Limbaugh to find nothing but lies, hatred and vile insinuations coming out of their mouths. While they''re around you''ll never get a centrist vote.

[usclimey]

we are all socalists now prepare for unemployment 10-25 percent and gas 7-9 dollars a gallon,,,,,,like other socalist countries

Posted by ertyui4

Actually in Great Britain unemployment''s only 5.9%. Also, now the $''s back up gas is only around $6 per gallon.

[McHineguy]

Are you serious...follow the money trail...he beat McCain down by out spending him 7 to 1!!! Wall Street backed him (yes...inspite of a melt down...LOTS of money poured in from Wall Street...curious, huh?), Hollywood backed him, foreign donations backed him, and more than anything else....Oprah backed him Kennedy had a fraction of the financial support. With that kind of money...you buy a better machine!! What he needs to worry about his keeping all this money in love with him....which could get sticky considering all the promises he made to get it.


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Posted by likeitis5050 at 12:50 PM : Nov 13, 2008

Yes I am serious but in 1500 words I was unable to be clear. Most of us believe JFK was a success. I think he achieved success because the experienced Kennedy/Democrat machine (mostly his father) helped him with executive decisions. He was able to fail at the Bay of Pigs, practice out right Nepotism (Bobby was Attorney General), and carry on a public affair with Marilyn Monroe.

Obama has a powerful election machine but so far has not shown executive skills (they botched his visit with Bush). Even if Obama has good advice, its not clear to me he will heed it. He often seems to me to be as stubborn as Bush II.

[McHineguy]

Hilarious that the Republicon Neo-Nazi Party of self-centered Prikks and Kunnts thinks that they have a chance to regain any assembence of power within the next 40 years. They instead should do America a favor and plan a mass suicide down in some Southern White Trash state hellhole.


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Posted by ConDumbistan at 12:35 PM : Nov 13, 2008

Its easy. We see degenerate posts like this one as representative of our competition. Name calling and slander without reason only detracts further from the image of those you represent.

[McHineguy]

Machineguy

So you don''''t think the democrats are ever helpful to this country. Why are the historians saying the opposite. Why didn''''t bush use executive power to stop the loss of jobs and help save 1.2 million jobs. Had he done that McCain would have been elected. The sheer fact that 1.2 Million people have lost their Jobs really looks bad


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Posted by DJ_IL at 12:41 PM : Nov 13, 2008

I believe the Democrats have done good things for our country. But I also think they have done some serious harm from time to time. Im not sure which historians you are refering to because I dont find any that are so forthcoming as you represent. Further, I find historians that are rewriting events that I lived through (Iran is now claiming the holocost never happened). So, I dont put much stock in a generic "historian". Maybe a specific reference would be better to debate with. Like, Dr King was a Repub. So was Lincoln. Nixon was a crook but ended the Vietnam war.

I dont believe a president can stop the loss of jobs with an executive order. Maybe you can explain that to me. But, as a repub, I am skeptical of any government that tries to run its citizens businesses. History is full of those failures. I can site specifics.

[likeitis5050]

But Im not optomistic. He has the rhetoric and charisma of John Kennedy but lacks the Kennedy "machine" backing him.

Posted by Machineguy

Are you serious...follow the money trail...he beat McCain down by out spending him 7 to 1!!! Wall Street backed him (yes...inspite of a melt down...LOTS of money poured in from Wall Street...curious, huh?), Hollywood backed him, foreign donations backed him, and more than anything else....Oprah backed him Kennedy had a fraction of the financial support. With that kind of money...you buy a better machine!! What he needs to worry about his keeping all this money in love with him....which could get sticky considering all the promises he made to get it.

[likeitis5050]

it''s slowly sinking in that BO didn''t win because he''s all that (although we have some sickos out there who can''t blow sunshine up his azz hard or fast enough), but because they were sick of Bush''s Party!!! Bush shouldn''t be allowed to call himself a Republican...he certainly didn''t represent the party!! Republicans will be years getting the nasty taste out of their mouth every time they say GOP...but the good news is...

4 years of BO is going to put the country back in the mood for electing someone authentic. Before his administation is over we''re going to be fed up with learning all the ways he conned us.

[citizenusa-2009]

The citizens of our country (after being BUSHWHACKED THREE TIMES), will never be naive enough to vote in another Republican, unless we want a re-run of appalling government greed, WAR, poverty, and the world''s mistrust. The election of Obama restored my faith that the "intelligent" FINALLY outnumber the "ignorant" in the country.

Also, we should thank the media for being our "eyes and ears" during this Presidential Election. Just as they did during the Katrina Disaster, they SHOWED us the injustice and we REACTED.

[McHineguy]

ActionNow1

Of course thats why they shifted to the democrats. The fact that you call him a LIAR really proves how immature you are. But again I suppose you have the right to voice an opinion. We will see how Obama turns out, If he turns out bad, the GOP will win in 2012, if he turns our good, you won''''t stand a chance.


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Posted by DJ_IL at 12:33 PM : Nov 13, 2008

IF HE TURNS OUT GOOD I WILL VOTE FOR HIM.

But Im not optomistic. He has the rhetoric and charisma of John Kennedy but lacks the Kennedy "machine" backing him. He has the social urges of Johnson and Carter. He has the advisors and potential cabinet of Clinton.

But, he either lies or changes his mind without admitting it. He has refrained from taking a position too many times and has been essentially silent since the election. the ultra liberals are already dogging him to do their bidding. His first visit with a head of state (Bush) was a disaster of leaked information with unknown credibility (I doubt very much that Bush or his staff would successfully leak to the New York Times).

But I hope he gets ready to lead really fast and does such a great job that even I want to vote for him in 2012.

[fortuenti]

Even before the GOP dissed Ron Paul they way they did I knew they were a LOST CAUSE.

[heathme2003]

Somebody, please, make Palin go away.