Cocky Emanuel shows up to gloat

It's gotten so bad for House Republicans that Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) is giving them advice on their tarnished brand.

During a meeting of the House Republican “theme team” last week, Emanuel stopped by briefly to address the group.

{mosads}The unusual appearance of the partisan Democrat was triggered when Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) passed out fliers to GOP members on the House floor about the meeting.

“He said, ‘I’m going to come to this thing,’ ” Kingston said, noting that he and Emanuel have a good rapport. “And he showed up.”

Kingston said the Illinois Democrat was well-received by the group and even offered some advice: that President Bush and the GOP’s lack of an agenda would continue to haunt the party in November.

“Rahm was merely showing conservatives some compassion,” said Nick Papas, a spokesman for the Democratic Caucus chairman and the former head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

While Emanuel’s visit to the GOP roundtable group was in jest, his message was serious — and Republicans know it.

GOP lawmakers were in a state of shock on Wednesday after suffering a devastating special-election loss in Mississippi. That loss, coupled with special-election losses in Illinois and Louisiana earlier this year, has House Republicans questioning their message, candidates and fundraising efforts.

They also are grappling with what changes, if any, to make to the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC).

One such possibility deals with speculation that NRCC Chairman Tom Cole (Okla.) will be replaced by former NRCC Chairman Tom Davis (Va.).

According to a copy of House Minority Leader John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) talking points, one possible query, written under the heading “Possible Tough Questions,” reads, “Are the results in [Mississippi] another indication that 2008 is setting up to be a disastrous year for House Republicans?

“Our leadership team and our members just had one of the most candid and open meetings we’ve ever had,” read the talking points, presumably prepared before the meeting. “And we made this commitment: We’re getting up off the mat to fight, and we’re going to prove to the American people that we are the agents of change they expect their Washington leaders to be.”

The second question raised the possibility that Davis would replace Cole.

The answer provided was the same response to the question about whether 2008 will be a disastrous year for House Republicans.

{mospagebreak}Even though GOP leaders did not signal Wednesday that they will remove Cole, sources say that factions of leadership would support such a move. However, Cole has not showed any indication of going quietly and Republican leaders have not embraced a conference-wide vote to force him out.

In a telling development, Davis distributed a 20-page memo Wednesday to GOP members outlining strategies that he advocates for changing the direction of the party. No other member released such a memo.

Cole and Boehner have clashed publicly, and some say their relationship has been strained throughout the 110th Congress. Both Davis and Cole were public supporters of Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) in the 2006 majority leader contest between Boehner and Blunt.

{mosads}As they trickled into their Wednesday morning conference meeting, GOP members uttered the word “wake” to describe the mood.

Somber and sobered by the eight-point loss in Tuesday’s special election, House GOP members knew that the meeting was not going to be pleasant.

And it wasn’t, as Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) stood up and lambasted leadership officials.

“This better be the wake-up call leadership needs,” she said, according to sources in the room.

Reps. Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.), Don Manzullo (R-Ill.), Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) and Davis also spoke. But the meeting was not as heated as some anticipated.

In his memo, Davis wrote that the House GOP could lose another 20 House seats in November and a half-dozen in the Senate if Republicans continue on the same path.

“Democrats are not winning, we are losing,” the memo stated, adding, “Failure to fundamentally change the GOP brand can lock us into a very long period of minority status.”

Davis called for shifts on healthcare (“the weakest issue for Republicans”) and immigration: “John McCain, being from a border state, may be out of sync with many Republicans but he has standing among Hispanics. Barack Obama has not made the sale to Hispanic voters. Thus this issue is a tar baby for anyone who touches it, with land mines everywhere. But the Democrats control Congress and are doing nothing. This needs to be highlighted. Put the onus on them to produce a bill. Put them on defense.”

The Davis memo also criticized the NRCC’s move to spend $500,000 in the Louisiana special election, calling it “not smart, in retrospect.”

“It’s difficult for a congressional party to have an agenda during a [presidential election year],” Davis told reporters Wednesday. He criticized President Bush, still seen as the mouthpiece of the party, for “swallowing the mic.”

“We picked some bad fights,” Davis said, citing the reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program as an example. “At least Democrats are trying to do something.”

Asked whether changes in the leadership of the party should be made, Davis said, “Let’s see what they come up with at this point.”

He did, however, criticize GOP leadership for failing to make adjustments in the wake of the 2006 elections.

Following the meeting, Cole maintained a cool demeanor, telling reporters, “People are concerned.”
Cole attributed the loss to the challenge of running against Democrats who are running as Republicans, adding that while Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is an important asset, he alone cannot save the party.

“We didn’t lose because we were surprised. We didn’t lose because we lacked resources. We had enough money,” Cole said.

Republicans will hold another conference on Thursday morning.

Susan Crabtree and Bob Cusack contributed to this report.