GOP struggles with identity, message
Republicans gained three seats in the Missouri Senate.
Published Nov. 6, 2008
More than 120 million people voted in Tuesday's historic election, and the Democrats came away with victories across the country. But the Republican Party might have to deal with some identity issues in the months to come.
Although President-elect Barack Obama's message throughout the election was "hope" and "change," Republicans did not seem to have one clear message.
However, Republicans gained three seats in the Missouri Senate, and only lost a few in the Missouri house, which many Republicans are calling an accomplishment.
"We expected to lose five in the house," said James Knowles, Missouri Federation of Young Republicans chairman.
But Jane Gibson, vice-chairwoman of public affairs for the MU College Republicans, recognized the lack of a message within the Republican Party.
"The Republican Party needs to come back to the basics and focus on principles that we stand for, not the policies that we oppose," she said in an e-mail. "I think there will be a new conservative movement, where our policies reflect the principles similar to the Reagan era."
Knowles said it also has to do with what kind of leadership it has.
"Hopefully we will get some new leadership, young leadership, that can be a little more inspiring, with a message that appeals to all Missourians," he said.
Knowles also said Republicans have to do a better job at reaching out to people in the cities and suburbs.
"We got to be better marketers of our message," he said. "We need to help move people from welfare to work. We can't use divisive politics, we can't do the 'Karl Rove' and pick a subject everyone's pissed about, like, abortion."
One major problem the party might have in Missouri and nationally, Knowles said, is clear leadership.
"What's really rough for us is we don't have a singular leader, so the House might have their agenda, and the Senate might have their agenda, but the Republicans don't have an agenda," he said.
But Knowles is confident that the Republicans will have a message.
"We got close enough in this election that I think people will realize we need to do something," he said. "In some ways it was kind of good, maybe Republicans will get their act together now."
Young voters have historically tended to support Democrats more than Republicans. In the 2006 mid-term elections, nearly six in 10 young voters chose the Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives elections and favored Democratic presidential candidates in 2000 and 2004.
Knowles explained that there's been a generational shift since Ronald Reagan was president in the '80s.
"I think the problem with the millennials is they never knew what it was like to be a Republican," he said.
The next test for the Republicans will be 2010, and Knowles said that is what will determine where the Republican Party is going in 2012 and beyond. He said Obama would have obstacles ahead of him as he enters office.
"I don't envy him," he said about the new president-elect. "A lot of people have high expectations of him, and if he screws up even a little bit, I don't think people are going to be happy."
Knowles and Gibson thought it was too early to say who would take on Obama in 2012.