12.02.2006
Republican "Brand" Needs Repair, Governors Told (Reuters.com)
Fri Dec 1, 2006 5:17pm ET29
By Jane Sutton
MIAMI (Reuters) - The Republican "brand" has been tarnished by corruption and poor performance and governors from the party who have presidential ambitions must return to its traditions of tight spending and smaller government.
So concluded Republican governors and their advisers gathered in Miami for a conference that ended on Friday.
The "Grand Old Party" lost control of both houses of Congress and six governorships in the November election. Republican President George W. Bush has seen his job approval rating drop 3 more points to 31 percent since then, according to a Harris Poll.
Outgoing Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, who helped steer Bush's 2004 re-election, blamed the electoral drubbing partly on discontent with the Iraq war and on some candidates' scandals and ethics problems.
But pollsters said voters told them the election was more about competence than war, scandal or any shift in ideology.
They said voters now viewed Democrats as more likely to rein in government spending, cut taxes for the middle class and trim the budget deficit -- things Republicans promised when they took control of Congress in 1994.
(More ... Reuters > News > Politics)
By Jane Sutton
MIAMI (Reuters) - The Republican "brand" has been tarnished by corruption and poor performance and governors from the party who have presidential ambitions must return to its traditions of tight spending and smaller government.
So concluded Republican governors and their advisers gathered in Miami for a conference that ended on Friday.
The "Grand Old Party" lost control of both houses of Congress and six governorships in the November election. Republican President George W. Bush has seen his job approval rating drop 3 more points to 31 percent since then, according to a Harris Poll.
Outgoing Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, who helped steer Bush's 2004 re-election, blamed the electoral drubbing partly on discontent with the Iraq war and on some candidates' scandals and ethics problems.
But pollsters said voters told them the election was more about competence than war, scandal or any shift in ideology.
They said voters now viewed Democrats as more likely to rein in government spending, cut taxes for the middle class and trim the budget deficit -- things Republicans promised when they took control of Congress in 1994.
(More ... Reuters > News > Politics)
Labels: 2006 election, GOP, poll, Reuters
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