At Miami conference, GOP governors vow to right the ship
BY PATRICIA MAZZEI
Two roads diverged in the GOP's path toward the future in a meeting of Republican governors in Miami this week -- and Gov. Charlie Crist took the one for a more moderate party.
Still struggling with its party's election defeat, the Republican Governors Association tried to represent a unified front, led by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. She gave her first national news conference Thursday as she tried to capitalize on her celebrity to become the party's next leader as the former vice-presidential nominee and head of an energy-rich state.
But governors were split on how to attract more voters to the GOP at the national level.
Party traditionalists called for the GOP to turn to its origins of small government and low taxes to restore faith in conservative principles. Moderate reformers like Crist tried to pull their peers to the ideological center to appeal to the working class and minorities.
''This party can no longer hope to reach Hispanics, African Americans and other minority groups -- we need to just do it,'' Crist said. ``Embracing cultures and lifestyles will make us a better party and better leaders.''
Crist was not alone. Forcefully backing his view were governors like Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, perhaps the loudest advocate urging the party to bring pocketbook issues into its discourse and technology into its campaigns.
''We weren't even in the same universe in this campaign when it came to structure,'' said Pawlenty, once mentioned as a possible running mate for John McCain. ``The Republicans are 15 years behind in terms of the technology applied to the campaign.''
Still, those sweeping statements might prove difficult to act on and could risk alienating sectors of the party. Governors at the two-day meeting at the Hotel InterContinental cast Republicans in Washington as hand-tied now that the GOP does not control the White House or Congress for the first time in 14 years.
And more traditional members of the party could frown on a largely nonpartisan message rather than being the voice of opposition.
'John Deere has great engineering capacity, but when they get into trouble they don't say, `Let's build airplanes,' '' said South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford. ``They go back to the core.''
Despite the somewhat gloomy mood that lingered over the two-day meeting, GOP leaders patted themselves on the back for not losing any gubernatorial seats and picking up one in Puerto Rico.
The party traditionalists blamed the election loss on an unpopular war and an economic crisis. The presidential race was closer than they expected under the circumstances, they argued.
''I have seen it a lot worse, folks,'' Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said.
In the middle of the discussion was Palin, who on Thursday took four questions from reporters clamoring to know why she was speaking to them now and not before Election Day.
''The campaign is over,'' she said, adding that she did not want to dissect past strategy. ``We're focused on the future, and the future for us is not that 2012 presidential race. It's next year and our next budgets and the next reforms in our states.
''We are now the minority party, but let us resolve to not become the negative party,'' Palin said. ``Losing an election does not have to mean losing our way.''
Governors weren't looking to agree with one of the two sides so soon after the election, focusing instead on solving state problems, promoting the party's principles and showcasing stars like Crist, Palin, Pawlenty and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. But the debate on whether the party should take more dramatic steps is likely to linger, and if one of the camps persuades the other, that could mark the future for the party -- and for leaders like Crist.
''People mostly want to follow positive leaders,'' Pawlenty said. ``They don't want to follow grumps.''
That said, he added: ``There is a lot that has happened in terms of our country since Ronald Reagan was president. . . . We're going to need more than just a political comb-over. We're going to need a more dramatic approach to things.''
