Republicans confident of big gains this fall

With Democrats on defense, Republicans expressed cautious confidence of big gains in the November congressional elections _ particularly in governor's races _ though they acknowledged that the opposition must do more to snatch control of Congress from President Barack Obama's party.

Three months before the elections, it was all business and little celebration as the 168-member Republican National Committee met this week to finalize Tampa, Florida, as the 2012 Republican convention city and set the presidential primary calendar.

Unlike in years past, no White House hopefuls showed up. And the tone was sober about the Republicans' prospects in November; a single sign said: "Playing to win in 2010."

All that reflected the challenge Republicans have ahead of them as they seek to take advantage of conditions that at first blush seem ripe for a power shift in Democratic-controlled Washington.

"We're focused on doing what we have to do to keep the wave going," said Ron Kaufman, a committeeman from Massachusetts. "It's going to grow or crest. And we've got to make sure it grows."

No one doubts that the Republicans will win Democratic-held congressional seats. The president's party nearly always loses seats during the first midterm elections of the presidency. The opposition's local members also are energized and independent voters are leaning toward Republicans.

The question is whether Republicans have it together enough to gain 40 in the House of Representatives and 10 in the Senate to take control of Congress _ with less money than the Democrats, without the White House bully pulpit and as conservative anti-tax tea party activists expose a fissure between conservatives and moderates in the Republican party.

Former Nevada Gov. Bob List said the Republican party needs to do more than simply oppose the policies of Obama and Democrats. Said List: "I don't think we can just win it by default, by being negative."

"We can say 'no' to the deficits and 'no' to the spending, but I think we also need to couple that with 'yes' to where we're going to cut and 'yes' to how we're going to make government run better," he said.

Brady advocated "rebranding" the Republican party as "the party of competence, the party of fiscal responsibly, the party of job creation."

The RNC's internal politics hovered over the meeting.

Chairman Michael Steele's 18-month tenure has been rocky, and some committee members privately groused about him. There also was a recent flare-up over spending practices, with the RNC's treasurer accusing Steele of hiding more than $7 million in debt to inflate the party's finances and mislead donors. And there's a dispute over the 2012 primary calendar, too.

The committee was voting Friday on a proposal that would make the process start later than January, when the 2008 primaries began. Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina would be permitted to hold their contests in February 2012, states that divide up delegates proportionally would vote in March and winner-take-all states would go in April.

Two-thirds of the committee must vote to approve the plan, and its adoption was uncertain because of concerns that it would hurt the eventual Republican nominee. Critics worry about extending the Republicans' process when Obama likely won't face a primary.

Although less confident of emerging with control of Congress, committee members almost uniformly said they expected Republicans to have a huge year in this year's 37 gubernatorial races, with many suggesting the Republicans will emerge from the elections in control of a comfortable majority of states.

RNC political director Gentry Collins painted a rosy picture of the playing field for Republicans.

"It's far larger than we expected it to be when we began our planning, and candidly that presents quite a challenge for us," he told reporters. Still, he predicted significant gains in both the House and Senate. But he stopped short of suggesting the Republicans would win control of either, saying only that voters will determine which party will be in power.

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Republican National Committee: http://www.rnc.org