The Washington Post asked leading political strategists eight key questions facing the Republican Party. Here are Ralph Reed’s answers, unedited, as submitted to the Post. We thought you might like to see them without the media filter.
1. In what three ways is the Republican Party better off today than it was on the night Barack Obama won the election?
The Republican Party is better off because it is regaining credibility by standing athwart the Obama spending spree and shouting, “STOP!” This is critical to independents, who are anxious about the long-term deleterious impact of Obama’s policies. Second, Republicans are becoming a less Washington-centric, grassroots party. The Tea Party movement has exemplified this bottom-up grassroots phenomenon, much of it spread virally on the Internet. The GOP is most effective and nimble when ideas and activism bubble up from the precincts, not down from DC. Exhibit A is what has unfolded in NY-23. Third, the party is fielding better candidates. Bob McDonnell in Virginia is the archetype of a new breed of Republican candidate who is philosophically conservative, gifted from a leadership standpoint, and temperamentally inclusive and a bridge-builder.
2. In what three ways is the Republican Party not better off today than it was on the night Barack Obama won the election?
A. Not having an overarching, identifiable leader
B. Not having the megaphone afforded by control of the White House or Congress.
C. Currently lacking a strong enough farm team, where much work remains to be done.
3. What are the three biggest obstacles facing the Republican Party as it attempts to comeback from the 2006 and 2008 losses? Can be related to Question 2 or not.
First, not becoming viewed as merely and reflexively anti-Obama. Second, avoiding the mistake of relearning the wrong lessons of the past. Trying to win independents by becoming more “moderate” is likely a failed strategy. What the American people are hungering for is authenticity and leadership. Republicans should be who they are, say who they are, and stand up for what they believe in. The final challenge is competing effectively with Obama’s ground game. The GOP—or outside issue organizations—must build a state-of-the-art grassroots organization that marries the technology of the Internet with traditional shoe-leather tactics.
4. What is the biggest demographic challenge facing the GOP: young voters; Latinos; suburban women?
Probably Latinos because they are growing as a percentage of the electorate and are now the swing vote in states representing one-third of the electoral college, including Florida, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and California. In 2008 John McCain received 31 percent of the Hispanic vote, which is a recipe for long-term minority status. Because Republicans support the rule of law with regard to immigration, they must find a way to talk about that issue in a way that does not turn away like-minded Hispanics. There are millions of Latinos who share the values-oriented, entrepreneurial spirit of conservatives. But if we don’t tell them we care about them and that our vision for the future of the country includes them, Latinos will not respond to our message.
5. Who best defines the party for those people who identify themselves as Republicans?
For social conservatives and many women, it is Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee. For economic conservatives, Eric Cantor, Mike Pence, and Tom Coburn and former Club for Growth president Pat Toomey (their number one Senate priority in 2010). Newt Gingrich also has a strong following on television, radio and the Internet. There is no single leader, as Reagan was in the late 1970’s or Gingrich was in the 1990’s. That is an altogether healthy thing for a party in transition.
6. Who best defines the party for those who people who identify themselves as independent or loosely aligned Democrats?
In states where the Governor is a Republican, it is the governor. This is often overlooked, but the governors act as the titular head of the party in many states. Nationally, it is an amalgam: John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Mitch McConnell, and the emerging crop of GOP presidential candidates (Huckabee, Pawlenty, Romney, et al.) In many 2010 states, it is the emerging candidates for Governor and U.S. Senate: Blunt in Missouri, Meg Whitman and Poizner in California, Bill McCollum in Florida,
7. What most unites the Republican Party today?
Resisting out-of-control spending because it simultaneously limits government (the fiscal wing of the party) and reigns in failed social policies (social conservatives). As government expands, freedom contracts, and so does the power and responsibility of individuals, churches and synagogues, and families. Limiting government and enhancing what Edmund Burke called “little platoons” of freedom and compassion unite economic and social conservatives.
8. What most divides the Republican Party today?
The issue on which there is the least consensus is probably who should be the presidential nominee in 2012. Not since 1964 has a race for the GOP presidential nomination been so wide open. Rank-and-file Republicans may have grown wary of nominating the person who has waited the longest or can claim it is “their turn.” The royalist impulse of the party seems to be on the wane, in part because of the remarkable emergence of Obama in 2008.
Bonus question: On balance, are the Tea Party movement and the Beck-Limbaugh-Hannity wing of conservatism helpful or harmful to the Republican Party’s future—long term and short term?
Both are ultimately healthy because democracy requires outside voices to hold the those in power accountable. The Populists of the late-nineteenth century forced the Democrats to wrestle with issues of rural isolation and economic justice. The same was true of the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement in the 1960’s. The pro-family movement had the same effect in the GOP in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Social reform movements are the new wine that pours into the old wine skin of the political parties, often causing discomfort, but always causing growth. The tea party movement, talk radio, and the Internet are a modern manifestation of this age-old phenomenon and they represent a legitimate and modern expression of citizen activism.
