GOP Hopefuls Face Post-Bush Quandary

Insiders speak as GOP prepares for a losing November

(NEWSER) - Six months before an election in which some estimate Republicans could lose 20 seats in the House and five in the Senate, insiders tell Politico how the GOP can pick itself up:

• Write some policy. “It’s critical that our candidates have a very clear set of principles,” says Mitt Romney. Think tax-cutting and spending-slashing.

Current Republican field riddled with weak spots

(NEWSER) - Republicans talk a good game about challenging President Obama in 2012, but the GOP would look scarier if it had even one legitimate challenger , says Dick Polman. "Obama's job-approval numbers are tepid these days—but he looks robust when matched against actual Republican challengers," warns the Philadelphia Inquirer columnist. "Not to mention the inevitable wounds and scars that any Republican will suffer during a primary season that promises to be downright Darwinian." More»

Activists fill local posts that set policy, choose candidates

(NEWSER) - If you thought tea partiers weren’t joiners, think again, as conservative activists across the country fill vacant local Republican Party positions in an effort to change the GOP from the inside. Precinct representatives have a hand in electing county leaders, who determine the platform and even which candidates to endorse. “That’s where it all starts,” a strategist tells the Los Angeles Times . “It’s from the ground up.” More»

Party has wealth of female and minority candidates on deck

(NEWSER) - The ongoing shake-up in the Republican Party may see a much more diverse set of GOP candidates up for election in 2010, Politico reports. Viable female and ethnic minority Republicans candidates will be seeking governor's jobs or Senate seats in states across the country, including California and Texas. The candidates, party insiders hope, will give the GOP a much-needed boost in the many areas it lost last year. More»

Community, not freedom, is the true Western virtue: Brooks

(NEWSER) - Republicans have admired Westerns for decades, continually flocking to leaders—Goldwater, Reagan, Bush, Palin—who embody the John Wayne ideal of individualism and bravery. But as David Brooks writes, Westerns aren't really about lone heroes, but "civic order": how newcomers build communities in inhospitable regions. For the New York Times columnist, a true John Wayne figure would be devoted to "community and order, and the bonds that built the nation." More»