Republicans in Texas and across the nation are looking for a formula to pull their party out of the doldrums.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry says he has the proper strategy to win in 2008.
While party moderates are calling for a different approach to attract swing voters and minorities, as well as mollify the disenchanted inside the base, Mr. Perry is urging local and national Republicans to stick to the conservative principles that garnered past success.
Never mind that the GOP lost badly in 2006 and could be fast moving toward another disaster in 2008.
Mr. Perry, in a speech over the weekend at the convention of the California Republican Party, showcased Texas as a bastion of conservatism.
According to news accounts, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked the 1,400 in attendance to woo independents and swing voters by tackling issues like health care, the environment and global warming. Mr. Schwarzenegger, a Republican in a Democratic-leaning state, said the alternative was to watch the party "die at the box office."
Mr. Perry followed with a different approach, saying that the Lone Star State had "emerged from a century of complete Democratic control" by standing on principle.
"This, I believe, is how California and our country must combat the scourge of liberalism that we face today," according to the text of Mr. Perry's speech.
Then he threw out bloody steaks for everyone, except Mr. Schwarzenegger.
"The reason we lost our majority in Congress is not because our ideas lost their luster, but our leaders lost their way," Mr. Perry said as the crowd stood and applauded. "It's a sad, sad state of affairs when liberals campaign like Republicans to get elected, and Republicans govern like liberals to be loved. We need to hold the line on what it means to be a Republican, which is, of course: being conservative."
These are perilous times for Republicans.
The war in Iraq, President Bush's unpopularity and various high-profile scandals have made it difficult for GOP candidates to campaign the way they did in 2002, when Republicans swept Texas statewide offices and took over the Texas House for the first time in more than a century.
What's more, demographic shifts have made speaking directly to swing voters and minorities a priority – even in a red state like Texas.
Dallas County turned blue in 2006 as Democrats swept every countywide race they entered.
Sensing the same sort of outcome, Harris County Democrats are organizing for an assault on the GOP in next year's elections.
Republicans are essentially at a crossroads.
Do they appeal to moderates and tackle issues like global warming or poverty?
Or do they continue with the core conservative agenda that has won them elections in the past?
How do they appeal to minorities, including Hispanics, who are now firmly in the Democratic column?
Houston lawyer Chris Bell, who ran against Mr. Perry for governor in 2006, says local and national problems related to health care, poverty and the environment have to be addressed by both political parties.
The Democrat said Mr. Perry should be more mindful of Republican missteps.
"Conservative rhetoric isn't going to deal with any of those problems," Mr. Bell said.
Perry spokesman Robert Black said the governor was not taking a shot at Mr. Schwarzenegger but urging Republicans across the country to stay committed to conservative principles.
"He believes if you elect conservative representatives to office and they do what they say they are going to do, it works," Mr. Black said.
At the recent Texas Republican presidential straw poll in Fort Worth, Republican activists and officeholders urged their base voters to show up at the polls to avoid a repeat of last year's setbacks.
Mr. Perry didn't attend the straw poll, but he sent a video message telling delegates he would work to help Republicans get elected.
He wants the GOP to reread the playbook that brought them their victories of yesteryear.
"Our party stands for freedom to take risks and enjoy the rewards. Our party stands for the right to mention the name of God in a public setting without fear of reprisal. Our party stands for the right to life for the most vulnerable of us, the unborn child," Mr. Perry said. "We know that our conservative philosophy is the right way to govern and the best way to lead."
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