Gingrich warns Republican Party of ‘real disaster’ this fall

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) is calling on Republicans to seek “real change to avoid a real disaster” in the wake of another Democratic victory in a special election on Saturday.

In a letter to Republicans posted Tuesday on www.newt.org, Gingrich urged House leaders to call an “emergency, members-only meeting” to address what he describes as a “catastrophic collapse of trust in Republicans.”

{mosads}“If a majority of the House Republicans vote for real change, they should instruct Republican Leader John Boehner [Ohio] and his team to come back with a new plan by the Wednesday before the Memorial Day recess,” Gingrich wrote. “This plan should involve real change in legislative, communications, and campaign strategy and involve immediate, real action, including a complete overhaul of the Congressional Campaign Committee.”

Gingrich outlined nine acts of “real change,” including the gas tax holiday and an earmark moratorium.

Michael Steel, a Boehner spokesman, said, “Leader Boehner certainly agrees — and has said repeatedly — that Republicans can only succeed this year by being agents of change and reform. The American people know that Washington is broken, and we have to convince them that we can fix it. We have been clear over the past year that we have two jobs: defining the Democrats and defining ourselves. In the coming weeks, we will be laying out Republican policies that embody the sort of changes we need.”

Boehner has not indicated whether he will embrace Gingrich’s idea for an emergency meeting.

Democrats triumphed in a special election on Saturday in Louisiana for retired Rep. Richard Baker’s (R) seat. In March, Democrats also won retired Rep. Dennis Hastert’s (R-Ill.) seat in a special election.

Gingrich, who opted not to launch a presidential bid this year, stated that the two GOP losses in conservative-leaning districts “validate a national polling pattern that is bad news for Republicans.” He noted that the generic ballot for Congress in a recent poll shows Democrats are favored 50-32, “reminiscent of the depths of the Watergate disaster.”

The former Speaker, who is in regular contact with lawmakers on Capitol Hill, wrote that Americans believe that Democrats have polling advantages in the traditional GOP strongholds of dealing with the deficit, taxes and terrorism.

The Gingrich letter came as no surprise to National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Chairman Tom Cole (Okla.), who exchanged e-mails with the ex-Speaker Monday night.

Excerpts of the e-mails obtained by The Hill show that Cole outlined his concerns in three points, stressing that in order to be a strong party, each individual GOP candidate would have to be able to pull his or her own weight.

Cole’s points were discussed during the House Republican Conference meeting Tuesday morning and were echoed in Gingrich’s letter.

“Whether they be incumbents or candidates running as challengers or in open seats, Republican candidates must be financially capable of running competitive races, structured to execute strategic plans that put them in a position to win, surround themselves with sound advisers and build grassroots networks that offer them the opportunity and ability to communicate, energize and turn out voters this election. When Republican candidates do not prepare and work towards victory, the NRCC will not be in a position to do it for them,” Cole wrote. “To be competitive, the members of our Republican Conference must continue to support this institution with their energy and resources for the remainder of the cycle.”

He also stressed the importance of having a platform and message unique from the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

“Simply relying on the message of our presidential nominee and the failures of the Democrat majority is not enough to convince voters that in a time of war and economic unease … Republicans should be handed victory,” Cole stated.

Yet Gingrich is clearly making the case that GOP campaign strategists need to change course.

His letter says that the “Republican brand has been so badly damaged that if Republicans try to run an anti-Obama, anti-Rev. Wright, or (if Sen. Clinton wins), an anti-Clinton campaign, they are simply going to fail.”

Noting that six incumbent Republican senators lost in 2006, Gingrich wrote, “No matter what the GOP senators attacked their opponents with, the voters shrugged off the attacks and returned to, ‘Not you.’ ”

He added, “The danger for House and Senate Republicans is that the voters will say, ‘Not the Republicans.’ ”