When Republicans lost three special election House races this year, in three traditionally “red” districts held by Republicans, the party thought it might be a good time to re-think its election-year strategy. The original plan was to nationalize the elections, tie Democratic House candidates to Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi, and scream “liberal!” a whole lot.<\/p>\n
That, obviously, wasn’t much of a plan, and when it failed in a place like Mississippi, Republicans realized it was time for a re-evaluation. Now, conservative candidates are being urged to follow a very different tack<\/a>.<\/p>\n A new playbook for House Republicans urges them to run essentially as independents, showing empathy for voters, emphasizing local issues and ignoring many traditional party campaign practices. <\/p>\n The advice for House candidates is part of an effort to minimize Republican losses in a year when voters are exasperated by the economy, the Iraq war and President Bush:<\/p>\n “Encourage Republican candidates to establish themselves in a personal manner, emphasizing local issues whenever possible.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The playbook added that Republican candidates should “develop an issues matrix that is different than in years past.” The party lost its special elections in the spring because its candidates failed to successfully establish “themselves and their local brand in contrast to the negative perception of the national GOP.”<\/p>\n To summarize, the message is effectively, “Stop doing what we’ve been doing,” which, given the Republicans’ minority status — the House Republican caucus is down to 199 members — is probably a good idea.<\/p>\n