NEHRING: Road back for GOP

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By Ron Nehring

COMMENTARY:

With Washington in near-total Democrat hands for the next two years, our party's best opportunity for advancement lies in the states.

Historically, the first mid-term election of a new president doesn't go all that well for his party as voters seek to restore balance against the administration. Our party must be ready for that opportunity.

In California terms, the wave is coming, but we need the right board to catch it. How well our party performs over the next decade will depend in large part on how many seats we pick up in the states in the election that is now either 11 or 23 months away, depending on the state.

Redistricting is coming, and the legislatures that will draw new congressional district lines will be elected in 2009 and 2010. Republicans have a vested interest in maximizing our representation to ensure those lines are drawn fairly.

Even in California, where Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Proposition 11 will put the drawing of state Assembly and Senate district lines in the hands of an independent commission, congressional lines will still be drawn by the legislature.

Nationally, many of our Republican state and local candidates are winning in the same regions where some of our federal candidates have had a tougher time. A new partnership with those candidates can yield stronger representation in state and local government while concurrently sharing ideas and issues that can help our federal candidates.

All of this will require a shift in focus at the 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to having 50-plus.

The importance of achieving this is underscored by the fact that Republicans must demonstrate with credibility what we will do if returned to power in Washington. Our governors, together with state and local Republican officials, can provide many of those examples - another reason our party must be committed not only to success nationally, but in the states.

It's not an easy transition to make. As one former national chairman recently told RNC members, "When you hold the White House for eight years, you become a top-down organization." Change is required both in operation and culture.

In management, you get what you measure, so we must define success to include victory at every level of government: federal, state and local. The right question should not be limited to how well the top of the ticket did in a state, but also how many congressional, statewide and local legislative candidates did we pull across the line on Election Day? With redistricting looming, state legislative victories in 2009 and '10 mean more opportunities for federal victories in '12.

Measuring success in terms of victory at every level drives the conversation to how we ensure the vast array of tools the party has developed nationally can be used to help every candidate who has earned party nomination or endorsement. Our party has invested heavily in developing voter-contact best practices, metrics, new media technology, voter files and other tools. The cost of ensuring the entire ticket benefits from those tools is a fraction of what has been invested, and holds the potential for huge returns.

Finally, our candidates must translate our solid Republican principles into issues with benefits that impact the daily lives of the voters we aim to represent. This means putting aside the jargon, percentages, acronyms and references to millions of this or that and instead help voters understand how their lives, their future, and their family's future will be brighter when Republicans are entrusted to guide this nation forward.

California Republican Party.