VIRGINIA REPUBLICANS: THE WAY FORWARDInvite People Into the GOP; Don't Exclude Them Sunday, Dec 02, 2007 - 12:05 AM By DAVID LAMPOTIMES-DISPATCH GUEST COLUMNIST
ALEXANDRIA This weekend, the Republican Party of Virginia held its annual retreat, the Huffman Advance, in Crystal City. The gathering presented members of the GOP with a unique opportunity to reflect on our losses in the 2007 election cycle - which resulted in a Democratic majority in the State Senate for the first time in 12 years. Those losses were a continuation of the sharp reversals the party has suffered since it was swept into power just seven years ago. As the state continues to trend blue, the time for reflection on where the party has been going for the past few years is long overdue.
What are the lessons the Republicans should learn from the 2007 elections? Certainly not the one that the Family Foundation is pushing in its e-mail blasts to its supporters that claim the losses were attributable to candidates who were not socially conservative enough.
While a number of factors contributed to Democratic successes in this cycle, the essential reason Republicans lost is that Virginia voters prefer candidates who offer practical solutions to real-life problems instead of candidates whose message is limited to ill-supported demagoguery and divisive drum-beating.
Intolerance for views outside a hard-right social agenda still motivates a vocal segment of our party, and these zealots often determine the outcome of nominating contests - and too often define the Republican Party's message. The myopic ideology of this group results in campaigns that drive away normally Republican-leaning independents and moderates who are crucial to Republican electoral success.
For Republicans to succeed, we must get back to focusing on real Republican ideals and values - such as limited government, individual responsibility, and fiscal discipline - and move away from campaigns that do nothing more than attack gays and immigrants. One need only look at the defeats of State Sen. Jay O'Brien in Fairfax and Senate candidate Tricia Stahl in Hampton Roads, and the narrow victories of Sen. Ken Cuccinelli in western Fairfax and Senate candidates Ralph Smith of Roanoke and Warrenton's Jill Holtzman-Vogel in what used to be safe Republican districts, to understand that the GOP's current message, strategy, and tactics are wanting. In O'Brien's district, for example, the Republican Party paid for and mailed a slick flyer for O'Brien accusing now Sen.-elect George Barker of wanting to teach the GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender) lifestyle to schoolchildren - whatever that means. With all the important issues voters care about, from transportation to taxes, issues on which he was more often than not on the right side, Sen. O'Brien chose to push the campaign into the gutter by raising the twin red flags of gay sex and children. The result of this strategy? To paraphrase O'Brien: The people sent him home. Just as in previous Virginia elections, anti-gay cracks and campaign literature did not pay off for those who used them, yet all too often they continue to be part and parcel of Republican campaigns. The refusal to learn the lessons of the defeats of candidates such as former Dels. Dick Black and Brad Marrs in 2005 is why the Republican Party has earned a reputation among many voters as an inviting haven for anti-gay, anti-choice, anti-immigrant fanatics. Is it any wonder the party rapidly is declining given who has been setting its agenda? The GOP doesn't just need new leadership; it needs a new message, one that is suited to a new century and the new realities that modern society and family structure are very different from just 20 or 30 years ago. Polls consistently show that Virginians favor policies of basic fairness and nondiscrimination for Virginia's gay and lesbian residents by overwhelming margins. And even on more contentious issues like relationship recognition for same-sex couples, a majority of Virginia voters favor civil unions. Such positions, of course, are all perfectly compatible with the traditional Republican beliefs in personal freedom and limited government, in spite of what the social-issue zealots tell us. Those Republicans who can combine social tolerance with the traditional principles of limited government and fiscal conservatism are the ones who will have the potential to thrive in the new Virginia and still offer a sharp contrast to liberal Democrats. The days of the social-issue zealots are numbered - and that's a good thing. But if the Republican Party wishes to reverse its recent electoral misfortune, it will need to adopt a message and run campaigns that invite people into the party rather than exclude them from it.
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