GOP promises to reach out to new voters

As Republicans undergo an omphaloskeptic examination of their own party amid historic losses, the party must reach out to more voters, top GOP officials said Sunday.

Republicans find themselves with the fewest members of Congress they have had in two decades after having lost 50 seats over two cycles. And following Sen. Arlen Specter’s (D-Pa.) defection, the GOP has only 40 seats in the Senate, giving Democrats the ability to stop a filibuster once Al Franken (D) is sworn in in Minnesota.

{mosads}The GOP’s 2008 presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), said Republicans need to accept those who would disagree on some issues while agreeing on overall underpinning values.

“I think our policies, the principles of our party are as viable today as they have in the past,” McCain said on ABC’s “This Week.” “Maybe I didn’t do a good enough job communicating with the American people. But we have to improve our outreach and our communication and that doesn’t mean betrayal of principles.”

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) concurred, saying that returning to Ronald Reagan’s principles does not mean retreating in time.

“I have a deep belief that Reagan’s principles, like Thatcher’s principles, like Lincoln’s principles, relate to the future,” Gingrich said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I’m not for nostalgia, but I am for learning from the past in order to create a solution-oriented Republican Party.”

“I think we have to be an inclusive party,” McCain added. “I think we’ve got to broaden our — enlarge our tent and at the same time stick to our fundamental principles which are right of center.”

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who led opposition to the federal government’s proposed bailout of the U.S. auto industry, said his party needs to do a better job publicizing the policy alternatives they have offered.

“We’ve got to create alternatives. We’ve got to talk with the people,” Corker said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “While many people feel they’re in the wilderness today because of this economic stress, I believe that if we as Republicans can walk them through and show them the way that we can regain our majority.”

Corker said Specter’s defection, which he called “a little bit of a solar plexus blow,” had significantly weakened the GOP, but that the party needs to articulate it is rooting for President Obama to succeed, even if only on the GOP’s terms.

“This is not as much fun as it was two weeks ago when we at least had 41 [senators], but I think that will change, and certainly we all want this president to be successful,” Corker said. “It’s important for our country, but helping him be successful might be enlightening in some ways of policy that hopefully will take our country ahead in a positive way and not a negative way.”

McCain praised one of those efforts to create a new approach for the GOP, singling out Rep. Eric Cantor’s (R-Va.) National Council for a New America, which held its first town hall-style meeting last Saturday in Arlington, Va.

“This conversation that Eric Cantor, which some have criticized and others have begun, I think it’s a great thing. Why not have a conversation with the American people? Find out what they want,” McCain said.

{mosads}McCain, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney are among the Republican officials who have signed up to participate in Cantor’s group.

Gingrich pointed to Cantor and Reps. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as three members with “a great future” in Congress.

But Republicans have been mired in the past, and specifically hung with the albatross of the widely unpopular Bush administration. In recent days, former Vice President Cheney has emerged as a leading voice defending the previous administration, particularly on enhanced interrogation techniques.

On Sunday, Cheney told CBS’s Bob Schieffer he would choose radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh over former Secretary of State Colin Powell when considering the proper approach to the Republican Party. During Powell’s tenure atop the State Department, he and Cheney clashed frequently, especially over the war in Iraq.

“If I had to choose in terms of being a Republican, I’d choose Rush Limbaugh,” Cheney said when asked whose vision of the GOP he’d side with. “My impression was that Colin was no longer a Republican.”

Cheney, who has been the most visible member of the Bush administration in recent months, encouraged Republicans to engage in new outreach efforts while maintaining that the party needs to be true to its roots.

“I don’t think the Republican Party ought to move far to the left,” Cheney said. “The suggestion our Democratic friends always make is, ‘Well, if you Republicans were just more like Democrats, you’d win elections.’ Well, I don’t buy that.”

Many Republicans say privately they would appreciate the opportunity to move beyond the Bush administration, and that Cheney’s outspokenness does not help their cause. But publicly, few are willing to kick Cheney to the curb.

“I think it’s important for everybody who has the ability to communicate ideas to be involved. I don’t really give editorial comments about whether people are being positive or negative,” Corker said of Cheney’s recent comments.

Michael O’Brien contributed to this article.