GOP chairman growing the party...

While Howard "Old Yellar" Dean is out making stupid comments to placate his moonbat base and underwhelming everyone with his lack of prowess in fundraising, Ken Mehlman is out harvesting new Republicans.

Fred Barnes looks at the current efforts of the man who's goal is to help the growing Republican majority grow even faster - contrasting his more focused style against his DNC counterpart.

In temperament and style, Mehlman is unlike Rove and even more unlike Democratic national chairman Howard Dean. Rove is sometimes brisk and has ten ideas on his mind at any given time. Mehlman is intense and focused. Dean's idea of outreach is to insult Republicans and question their motives. Mehlman criticizes Democratic leaders but not rank-and-file Democrats. When he meets a Democrat, Mehlman says, he tries to find out what they have in common and see if they can work together. "Politics ought to be about addition, not division," he says. A Republican official said Mehlman follows the Coke approach and Dean doesn't: "Coca Cola doesn't attract people by saying Pepsi drinkers are intolerant and have never worked a day in their lives." In short, Dean is abrasive. Mehlman isn't.

Mehlman goes to the fastest growing counties in the U.S. (most of which are in Red States). In demographic terms, these areas are known as "exurbs".

"This is where you find the new conservatives and the new Republicans," Mehlman says. After taking over the Republican National Committee in January, he delivered Lincoln Day dinner speeches in several exurbs: Douglas County outside Denver, Lee County in southwest Florida, Pottawatamie County in Iowa across the Missouri River from Omaha. And last week Mehlman came to Waukee, a boomtown in Dallas County, for a party fundraiser.

And most importantly, he is making an intense but realistic effort to focus on African-Americans, a constituency that is offered nothing real by Democrats except rides to the polls.

"Three factors are different today," he says. One, Bush's ownership agenda is appealing to African Americans. "We're the progressives now," he says. Two, there's a "cultural disconnect" between African Americans and Democratic leaders. And, three, Democrats take African Americans for granted. But, again, Mehlman doesn't expect instant gains. "That's not how it works," he says. "I'm more realistic about what's required than people have been in the past." He favors "inclusion, not outreach. Outreach is what you do four weeks before the election. Inclusion is what you do four years before the election."

The inclusion strategy replaces the old practice of relying on African-American consultants. It stresses support for African-American candidates. Mehlman encourages this at all levels of politics. He recently spoke at a fundraiser for a Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, city councilman, Otto Banks, who switched parties to become a Republican. In Iowa, he attended a fundraiser at the home of Isaiah McGee in Waukee. A school teacher, McGee is running for city council. "We're honored you are running for this office," Mehlman told him. "Run hard and keep running."

The DNC leadership seems to be focused on navigating a sinking ship, while Mehlman and the RNC are expanding their fleet.

Posted by: Gary at 09:47 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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