Republican "brand" needs repair, governors told

By Jane Sutton 2 hours, 1 minute ago
MIAMI (Reuters) - The Republican "brand" has been tarnished by corruption and poor performance and governors from the party who have presidential ambitions must return to its traditions of tight spending and smaller government.

So concluded Republican governors and their advisers gathered in Miami for a conference that ended on Friday.
The "Grand Old Party" lost control of both houses of Congress and six governorships in the November election. Republican
President George W. Bush' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> President George W. Bush has seen his job approval rating drop 3 more points to 31 percent since then, according to a Harris Poll.
Outgoing
Republican National Committee' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, who helped steer Bush's 2004 re-election, blamed the electoral drubbing partly on discontent with the
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But pollsters said voters told them the election was more about competence than war, scandal or any shift in ideology.
They said voters now viewed Democrats as more likely to rein in government spending, cut taxes for the middle class and trim the budget deficit -- things Republicans promised when they took control of Congress in 1994.
"The image and brand of the GOP and conservatives has taken a hit and needs repair," pollster Neil Newhouse of Public Opinion Strategies told the Republican Governors Association.
"The next president has to be a fiscal hawk," said pollster Wes Anderson of OnMessage Inc., a Republican campaign consulting firm.
"They (voters) didn't fire us because they don't believe what we believe. They fired us because we didn't do what we said we were going to do," he said.
That may hurt Republican presidential hopefuls in Congress more than those in governors' mansions.
It has become common political wisdom that it is very difficult for someone in Congress to win the presidency because congressional voting records provide so much ammunition for opponents, including votes larding the federal budget with pet projects for home districts.
FROM STATEHOUSE TO WHITE HOUSE
By contrast, state governors, who function largely as chief executives and are prohibited in many states from running deficits, can point to balanced budgets and claim credit for pretty much anything good that happens under their watch.
Four of the past five presidents, including Bush, have used governorships to vault to the presidency.
Anderson said the three Republican governors considering a 2008 presidential campaign -- Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and George Pataki of New York -- had good records on controlling spending and improving health care in their states, issues important to voters.
"In all three cases they can run on 'I'm one of those Republicans who lived up to what I said I'd do,"' he told Reuters.
Democrats dispute that and noted the Republicans loss of governorships under Romney's tenure as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, including in Romney's home state of Massachusetts, where his handpicked successor lost by more than 20 points.
Democratic National Committee' name=c1> SEARCHNews News Photos Images Web' name=c3> Democratic National Committee spokesman Luis Miranda cited complaints from Republican gubernatorial candidates that Romney had not done enough to aid their cause.
"He put his own presidential aspirations ahead of his own party," Miranda said in a telephone interview.
Romney, who attended the conference, agreed on the importance of job performance, saying, "There's nothing that's going to yield a bigger swat, or thumping if you will, than saying one thing and doing another."