A Republican comeback?

by Mosheh Oinounou

ARLINGTON, VA -- Looking to chart a course out of troubled political waters, three Republican leaders stumped at a Virginia pizza joint Saturday to launch a national listening tour intended to reach out to voters.

Dubbed the National Council for a New America, House Minority Whip Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), former FL Governor Jeb Bush and 2008 presidential candidate Mitt Romney co-hosted the inaugural event for an effort they say will help the party communicate with average Americans and develop new policy solutions for the nation's challenges.

"Certainly our party has taken its licks over the last couple cycles. No one is under any illusion about that. But that is why we are here, that is why we started the National Council for a New America because it is important for us to reengage, to partner with the people of this country...to make sure that what happens in Washington is relevant to the challenges they face each and every day," Cantor told about 50 attendees at the Pie-Tanza restaurant, the first of what is set to be a series of forums across the country.

The GOP losses in the last three cycles have been devastating. Starting in 2004, Republicans lost control of the White House, the U.S. Senate, the House of Representatives as well as six gubernatorial seats. The latest strike came this week, when longtime Pennsylvania Republican Senator Arlen Specter crossed the aisle giving Democrats a virtual filibuster-proof 60-seat majority--pending the resolution of the Minnesota Senate legal fight.

Additionally, a recent Pew poll found that 22 percent of voters now identify themselves as Republicans compared with 35 percent who say they are Democrats. That is a severe drop-off from the same poll five years ago which showed GOPers at 30 percent, only down three to the Democrats.

In response, dozens of former and current GOP leaders came together this week to launch the initiative meant to rebrand the party and connect with voters.

"This forum will include a wide open policy debate that every American can feel free to participate in," reads a letter announcing the National Council. "Since January, the President and the Democratic Majority in Congress have - rightfully so - put forward their plan for the future, now we must listen, learn and lead through an honest, open conversation with the American people that will result in building policy proposals that will yield the best results for our nation's long-term success."

In his attempt to rev up the party faithful, Romney today said the GOP fight to regain power is a continuation of the U.S. war of independence, casting the Democrats as the loyalists and Republicans as the patriots.

"We are the party of the revolutionaries. They're the party of the monarchists," Romney said. "They are the party that believes government knows best and that government is the sovereign. And we are the party that believes the people and free people and people pursuing their own dreams are what make America the strongest nation and most powerful nation on earth...and we are going to continue to be revolutionaries."

Though he acknowledged that it will be difficult for the GOP to significantly impact the Obama agenda in the near-term without control of Congress, Romney maintained glass half-full perspective.

"We have an advantage and I don't know that we recognize it as such. When you have the White house as a party , pretty much all the ideas and the course for your party is going to come out of the White House...communication comes top down. Everybody else has to march behind," Romney said. "We have the opportunity instead to come from the grass roots and listen to the people and to look at different options for different strategies by listening to the people of America and having different voices and different Republicans and different leaders step forward and that's what we are going to do. We are not going to have just one idea that comes from one place."

For his part, Bush said part of the GOP's problem is that the party has been too focused on its past victories instead of developing innovative ideas for the future.

"It's time for us to listen first, to learn a little bit, to upgrade our message a little bit, to not be nostalgic about our past because things do ebb and flow," he said, arguing for the need for the GOP to develop alternative approaches on education, health care and energy.. "It's nice to remember the good old days when the good guys--if you're a conservative--were in power....but none of that matters right now. What we need to do is to listen, to learn and then there will be new generation of leaders that will lead."

Bush said that President Obama's quick rise from obscurity, from the Illinois State Senate to the White House, is a "tribute to our country" and said he is convinced that the GOP will find its next leader soon if it focuses on the 'what' instead of the 'who.'

"It will happen on our side as well. There will be great leaders emerging that will be able to communicate these great ideas that are bases on our timeless principles. So I am actually optimistic that if we...have the humility to start by listening and learning and developing policy first and not worry about the politics...the candidates will come," he added.