Yeah, because it's ALL about Schultz VS Priebus!

GOP can't win until they start reading, comprehending and acting on Priebus 'Gop Autopsy'

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Priebus sees post-'autopsy' progress

By James Hohmann
| 03/16/14 04:59 PM EDT


Last March, a Republican National Committee task force issued a scathing 100-page autopsy on what went wrong for the party in 2012, saying voters see the GOP as a “scary” group of “stuffy old men” who are “out of touch” with an increasingly diverse country. It called on the party to broaden its appeal by doing everything from backing immigration reform to beefing up its digital operations to reining in its drawn-out presidential primary process.

A year later, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus says he’s made major progress on implementing the report’s recommendations. But, as Republicans grow increasingly hopeful they can take back the Senate in this year’s midterms, Priebus cautions that the GOP still isn’t in the shape it should be if it wants to win the White House in 2016 — a national race that will bring out a more youthful, racially diverse electorate.

“We have ‘the tale of two parties’ that we’re contending with,” Priebus told POLITICO in a 40-minute interview in his Capitol Hill office. “We’ve got a midterm party that can’t lose, and we’ve got a presidential party that’s having a hard time winning. So we have to mind the store for 2014, and we’re doing that … but we’re focused on making sure we continue to grow into 2016.”

The 41-year-old Priebus, who is in his fourth year as chairman, is trying to transform the RNC into a more permanent, year-round operation by making atypical off-year investments in the digital realm and in field staff.

He’s especially proud of headway on the technological side. As suggested in last year’s report, the RNC now has a chief technology officer, a chief digital officer and a chief data officer. It opened an office in Silicon Valley and launched an initiative called Para Bellum Labs to experiment with new ideas in a start-up-like environment.

“That’s expensive, but if we’re going to get where [President] Barack Obama was [in 2012], these are the things we have to do,” Priebus said. “We’re spending two or three million dollars more a month than the [Democratic National Committee]. That’s an entirely new world, and it’s an enormous stress, obviously, because now you’re actually paying for the things that you’re talking about.”

( Also on POLITICO: Internet transition triggers GOP backlash)

The task force consulted with more than 2,600 people in the months after November, when GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s loss to Obama shocked many Republicans convinced they had the White House in their grasp. The panel divided its report into seven sections, covering everything from messaging to fundraising to third-party groups. It even suggested changing the way consultants are paid.

One of Priebus’s top priorities is one of the more sensitive subjects for today’s Republican Party: attracting more ethnic and racial minorities to its ranks. In 2012, for instance, Romney won just 27 percent of the Hispanic vote. Democrats, meanwhile, are eyeing states such as Texas, which they believe can turn from red to at least purple due to the rising number of Hispanic voters.

Priebus has hired hundreds of people across the country to focus on engaging minority groups such as blacks, Hispanics and Asians, through special activities, attending events and advertising. Some of the RNC operatives focus in particular on cultivating relationships with media outlets that cater to minority communities.

“I’m not naïve to think that I’m going to sit here and carpet the world in two years,” Priebus said. “The question is: instead of getting 27 percent of the Hispanic vote, can I get 35? And instead of getting a few percentage points in the African-American community, can I get to 9 or 10?”

“We’re on offense obviously in places like Cleveland and Detroit,” he added. “But we’re also playing defense in states like Texas, with a serious Hispanic engagement program there, not for 2014 or 2016, but potentially down the road.”

Republican strategists acknowledge that the party has not shed its image as being dominated by white men, and some fret privately that just putting bodies into states won’t win over many converts. On this front, the GOP autopsy’s report was firm on one policy issue it said the party cannot ignore, especially if it wants to make headway with Hispanics.

Republicans “must embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform,” it said. “If we do not, our party’s appeal will continue to shrink to its core constituencies only.”

GOP lawmakers, however, have been deeply divided on tackling immigration. The Senate passed an immigration bill, but it fell apart in the face of conservative opposition in the House.

Many conservative activists see “comprehensive” as a code word for “amnesty” and oppose a bill that would allow illegal immigrants to eventually gain citizenship.

The divisions over immigration underscore the steep challenge facing Priebus and other Republicans who want to broaden the party’s appeal, observers said.

“His challenge is to persuade young people, Hispanics, African-Americans and women that our party cares about their best interests and concerns,” said Jim Gilmore, a former RNC chairman. “I don’t think we’ve done that.”

Sally Bradshaw, one of the autopsy’s authors, noted that the report was aimed at the party as a whole, not just the RNC. She said there has been a lot of movement at the state level to make the tent bigger.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/03/reince-...z49ZoW9iea
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