Chairman Michael Steele Lays Out GOP's Plan to Defeat Democrats

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," September 3, 2010. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST: All right, Republicans are poised to make quite the comeback this November. Almost every recent Gallup Poll has the scales tipping in the GOP's favor.

Now Gallup's editor in chief Frank Newport says, quote, "Republicans' presumed turnout advantage combined with their current 10-point registered voter lead suggest the potential for a major wave election in which the Republicans take back control of the House."

Now in their latest poll Republicans are twice as enthusiastic as Democrats about voting in the upcoming elections. In another poll that we mentioned last night, the American people say they trust Republicans more than Democrats on 7 out of 9 key election issues.

Now in the last midterm elections three million more Democrats voted in primaries. This year so far three million more Republicans turned out. No wonder things are looking good for the GOP.

And here to give us the party's blueprint to victory is the chairman of the Republican National Committee, the one and only, Michael Steele is back with us.

Michael, those numbers got to make you happy?

MICHAEL STEELE, RNC CHAIRMAN: They do. They bring a smile to my face. And what's even more telling, Sean, I was a little bit amused earlier in the week when you had the DCCC chairman Chris Van Hollen come out and say, well, we've made 400,000 voter contacts and how unprecedented that was for the Democrats.

Well, on the day he announced that I got a report that said on that day we had already made 7.8 million voter contacts.

The base is ready. They're fired up. Our activists are ready. Our candidates are ready. This is going to be, I think, a very important election on a number of fronts. But most especially for the party.

I think you've seen, Sean -- and you and I have had this conversation. The party battled back into the confidence of the American people by staying true to principles, articulating very clearly what those principles are, applying them to the policies that impact -- as we saw in New Jersey, Virginia elections last year.

I think this is going to be a wave election.

HANNITY: How do you -- how do you respond to the Democrat strategy tactic, which is either, A, to blame Bush and say this going to be return of the Bush era, or that the Republican Party is the party of no? Which is the other mantra that they're using. Do you think that will be effective? How do you counter that?

STEELE: No, I don't think it will be effective. I think the American people see through it for what it is. It's political noise without any substance attached to it. The reality of it is, you know, we stood in the door to try to prevent health care. They bold through the American people. We stood in the door --

HANNITY: They bribed through the American people. But go ahead.

STEELE: Exactly. Exactly.

HANNITY: Technicality.

STEELE: Just a technicality. But the reality of it is, Republican leadership on the Hill has offered time and time again and will continue to do so until they take the majority in November when they can actually begin to act and put into place these policies that empower small businesses by creating -- helping them create jobs by opening up capital and credit markets.

By trusting the American people to know better about their health care than the federal government. So I think on these issues -- and you've seen this in the polling that you just reflected, the issues are saying to the American people, Republicans are prepared to listen to us and to act on what we want done to help us create jobs and grow the company and secure our neighborhoods and communities.

HANNITY: All right. You have planned after Labor Day this bus tour of yours.

STEELE: Yes.

HANNITY: I want you to tell us about it. And I spoke to you about this. I've spoken to John Boehner, the --

STEELE: Yes.

HANNITY: The House minority leader. And I've spoken to others. That the Republicans are putting their ideas on paper. So what -- can you give us a preview of what the American people can expect?

STEELE: Well, absolutely. Not only are the -- are Republicans putting their ideas on paper, we're taking that paper to the streets. We're taking those ideas directly to the American people by launching a "Fire Nancy Pelosi" bus tour. And the bus is decked out in red and the slogan is, "Need a job? Fire Pelosi."

Because it's time to put the American people back in charge by giving them the avenue that they need do that. And that is going to be getting our candidates in front of them. Getting the resources on the ground to help them turn out on Election Day.

This is a 50-state strategy that the party has never done before. We have taken the last seven or eight months, hunkered down and figured out where do we need go to be the most effect. Working with our partners in the senatorial committee, the congressional committee, the RGA, the Republican Governors Association, to help us create --

HANNITY: All right, when do we get to see the bus?

(CROSSTALK)

STEELE: -- the type of movement that we need to see. The bus is going to be revealed probably around the 14th of September. It will be launched --

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: And Congress is going to be back into session around that time. So specifically, how are you going to describe -- or can you give us a little preview of what it is, what you're going to call it maybe, or what items are going to be on the list of promises, I guess, of some kind, something like a "Contract with America" that the American people will see?

STEELE: Well, exactly. And that's -- that piece of it is right now being worked on by members like Kevin McCarthy who has been phenomenal leader on this point. You've also seen some of the preview by Paul Ryan and Leader Boehner. When they laid out the -- sort of the economic strategy.

All of that is going to get folded into a message for the American people that will be -- we're very be honored to take around on behalf of our Republican leadership to drill down and share with the American people.

And so that -- it's a two-part step here. They're going to have the policy that's going to be backed by the principles. We're going to have the bus that's going to bring that directly to the American people.

And I'm excited about that. And it's a chance for us to not only focus on the congressional races, Sean, and you and I have talked about this as well. The importance of the state legislative races is incredibly important in this cycle for the purposes of redistricting.

We don't want to have to win in November only to have all of that taken away by Democratic state legislatures and Democratic governors in 2011 and 2012. So this is a complete package. It's an aggressive package. And we're taking it straight to the streets.

HANNITY: You mentioned McCarthy and some others and they're putting this thing together. Will it go far enough for those people that have said wait a minute, the Republican Party, when in power, lost some of their conservative values?

STEELE: Yes.

HANNITY: You know, for example, one little thing may seem like a little idea, but if the Republican Party would have to make a pledge to eliminate earmarks, Mr. Chairman, I think that would be a real symbol to the American people that, you know what, they're serious about balancing budgets, they get it at spending.

Is that something we might see? Will it go that far?

STEELE: That is -- I believe it is. I've taken that message and shared it with the leadership. You have -- you've expressed it very consistently on your program. And I think that's something that the leadership and others have paid attention to.

And I think you're going to see and -- again I've not been involved in the details of that particular document, but I think you're going to see something that goes -- it goes beyond just what we saw in 1994, but that really resonates with what people are going through right now when it comes to wealth and job creation.

When it comes to our economy. When it comes to our Constitution and the freedoms that -- that our people are really concerned about. As you saw expressed just this past weekend here in the nation's capital with Glenn Beck and others.

So I think this document, coupled with our grassroots efforts, are going to be a real resonating factor for voters going into the ballot boxes out in November.

HANNITY: All right. Mr. Chairman, we'll look forward to "Fire Nancy Pelosi." "Need a job? Fire Pelosi." I like it. It's got --

STEELE: You got it, buddy.

HANNITY: All right. Appreciate you being with us.

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