As the Republican National Committee does some soul-searching after their disappointing 2012 election season and hopes to learn from the mistakes of 2012, questions about the efficacy of the new “Growth and Opportunity Project” are being raised. With the RNC’s announcement on Monday, some are wondering how the GOP can respond to the nation’s shifting demographics and adopt winning political strategies.
RNC chairman Reince Priebus asked a group of five Republican leaders to examine the party’s messaging, fundraising methods, and what they could learn from the Democrats’ strategies. Identifying eight main goals, the committee will also look reach out to successful organizers and staffers at more junior levels and outside influential groups such as super-PACs and assess how the party should approach 2014’s midterm elections and the 2016 presidential primaries. In a statement, Preibus said:
“The Growth and Opportunity Project will recommend a plan to further ensure Republicans are victorious in 2013, 2014, 2016 and beyond. The work of the Growth and Opportunity Project will be critical as we move forward as a party and take our message to every American.”
The Republican Revolution the GOP was hoping for in 2012 has left the party without any distinct leaders, and with Obama’s win among minority groups—women, black, Hispanic and Asian voters—the party is looking to re-evaluate its outreach strategy to those voting blocks. That adds up to a quandary for a party looking ahead at gubernatorial races next year in Virginia and New Jersey, as well as 2014’s midterm elections.
Former George W. Bush White House press secretary Ari Fleischer and Sally Bradshaw, a Republican strategist and top adviser to Jeb Bush, are two of the five co-chairs. RNC member Henry Barbour, another Republican strategist and nephew of former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, has also been named another committee co-chair. And RNC members Zori Fonalledas of Puerto Rico and Glenn McCall of South Carolina are the last two members of the team.









