WINNING THE REPUBLIC

By Rudy Takala
January 7, 2010

NewsWithViews.com

In the year that has passed since the inauguration of President Obama, many Republicans have talked about the need to embrace conservatism in order to win elections. This sentiment was expressed largely in the uprising of tea parties across the nation.

Yet it has become too common that in spite of all the talk, party leaders tend to go back on their words in the waning moments of each election. This reality manifested itself in 2009 when RNC Chairman Michael Steele chose to support pro-abortion, pro-bailout Republican Dede Scozzafava for the congressional seat in New York’s 23rd district.

Despite the presence of a conservative third-party candidate in the race who had been endorsed by Sarah Palin and other Republican leaders, the RNC threw its support behind the more liberal candidate. Shortly thereafter, Democrats won the seat for the first time in sixteen years.

To discourage these recurring failures from taking hold again in 2010, ten members on the Republican National Committee (RNC) are presenting a resolution requiring that candidates agree with eight of ten basic platforms http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/11/2 ... andidates/ in order to receive the national body’s financial support. The resolution is being informally referred to as “Ronald Reagan’s Eighty percent agreementâ€