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Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, issued some words of advice for fellow GOPers: Get in the 21st century with same-sex-marriage issues. “We do have a platform, and we adhere to that platform,” Mr. Priebus said in a USA Today video. “But it doesn’t mean that we divide and subtract people from our party” who favor gay marriage. “I don’t believe we need to act like Old Testament heretics,” he said in the USA Today video. Rather, Republicans “have to strike a balance between principle and grace and respect.” His statements come as the U.S. Supreme Court is...

Economist and conservative author Thomas Sowell tells Newsmax TV that “Republicans have a decades-long record” of reaching out to the black vote in the “most unpromising way possible.” And based on the party’s strategy moving forward, he says, not much has changed. “I’m baffled by so many things that the Republican Party does nationally,” Sowell tells Newsmax on Friday in an exclusive interview. Sowell, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, tells Newsmax the GOP’s current plan to woo minorities is the same misguided strategy employed decades ago by former President Ronald Reagan. “When [Reagan] set out...

The Republican Party is violating time-tested, basic principles of sales and marketing. That's why the GOP is failing to communicate its messages. On Monday, the Republican National Committee released a massive reform strategy, whimsically labeled an "autopsy" or "reboot," to completely overhaul the GOP. Like Democrats in 1992, Republicans are growing hungry to win in 2014 and 2016. Here is what is wrong with the Republican Party. This author taught in a sales training seminar firm in Eastern Europe, International Trendsetters. The solutions are overwhelmingly time-tested and proven in real life. This is not theory. Republicans are chronically making classic...

Right blasts RNC 'autopsy' as power grab By: Jonathan Martin and Maggie Haberman March 18, 2013 12:21 PM EDT The GOP’s prescription to cure the ills that helped bring on yet another disastrous presidential cycle would revamp its presidential nominating rules in ways to benefit well-funded candidates and hamper insurgents - a move that quickly heated up the already smoldering feud between the Republican establishment and the tea party-inspired base. Tucked in near the end of the 97-page report, formally known as The Growth and Opportunity Project, are less than four pages that amount to a political bombshell: the five-member...

The Republican National Committee (RNC) has released its long-awaited study on the 2012 elections, with detailed recommendations about how the party can improve its future. The report, entitled the “Growth and Opportunity Project,” was compiled by a special committee consisting of former Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi, veteran GOP adviser Sally Bradshaw, former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, Puerto Rico committeewoman Zori Fonalledas, and South Carolina committeeman Glenn McCall. For several months, RNC chairman Reince Priebus has referred to the committee’s report on the state of the party as an “autopsy.” It is an apt description, because the 100-page report...

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus has been overwhelmingly re-elected to his post by committee members.

Republicans prepare for a comeback: ‘We can’t come off as a bunch of angry white men’ By Chris Moody, Yahoo! News Political Reporter CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Republican National Committee members gathered here to re-elect Chairman Reince Priebus for a second term. But by week's end, that vote seemed secondary to the question of the party's long term survival. After three months of denial, anger, despair and depression over the results of a bruising national election that gave Democrats an edge in Congress and kept President Barack Obama in the White House, Republicans know they must adapt if they are to...

Former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele is floating the idea of running for his old post again. In an interview on C-SPAN on Sunday, Steele was first asked if he thought current RNC Chairman Reince Priebus should run for another term. Priebus has suggested that he is leaning toward running for reelection.

Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus Thursday unleashed a sharp attack on liberal TV critic Chris Matthews, calling the MSNBC Hardball host "bizarre," "unhinged," and "hysterical" for charging the GOP with playing the race card. Appearing on America's Radio News Network with hosts John McCaslin and Chris Salcedo, Priebus said that when challenged by Matthews over race earlier this week, he tried to avoid a fight, though he did call Matthews a "jerk." Recalling the episode, Priebus said, "my reaction was, as it was happening was, OK Chris Matthews is just trying to make a scene for his

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus appeared on CNN's Out Front on Monday evening and spoke to Erin Burnett about the controversial statements made by Rep. Todd Akins, Missouri Republican, regarding rape. He called for Mr. Akin, who is running for Senate against Democrat Claire McCaskill, to "step aside and let someone else run for that office." Chairman Priebus also said that he "prefer that Todd Akin do the right thing for our party and our candidates" and "not come" to the upcoming RNC Convention in Tampa.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus hopes Sarah Palin will speak at the Republican convention in Tampa. “I think a lot of her and hope that she does speak,” Priebus told Greta Van Susteren on Fox News on Monday night. If Palin does speak, she would join other prominent GOP women whose national profiles have risen since Palin was pushed onto the national spotlight after McCain chose her as his running mate. In addition to Rice, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez also will be speaking. Palin told a reporter July 25 from The Tampa Bay Times...

It’s a new chapter in the 2012 presidential campaign, and for Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus, it means he no longer has to remain neutral watching the GOP contenders slug it out. The party chairman talked to NRO about how the RNC would help the Romney campaign and down-ticket GOP candidates across the country. He also discussed the RNC’s recent complaint to the General Accountability Office about the president’s doing campaign-style events at taxpayers’ expense. NRO: Your video department has been busy lately.REINCE PRIEBUS: They’re doing a great job. We’ve actually hired a person in-house whose entire job...

Reince Priebus, the Republican National Committee chairman, called President Obama a “Captain Schettino” for going on the campaign trail. “We’re going to talk about our own little Captain Schettino, which is President Obama who’s abandoning the ship here in the United States and is more interested in campaigning than doing his job as president,” Priebus said on CBS’s Face The Nation. Francesco Schettino was the captain of the Costa Concordia, the cruise ship that partially sank off the coast of Italy earlier this month. Schettino allegedly abandoned ship and has been arrested on multiple charges.

Two more former aides to Gov. Scott Walker have been charged with crimes linked to political fundraising while working on county time in the ongoing John Doe investigation. Both worked for Walker while he was serving as Milwaukee County Executive, and both are accused of fundraising activities while at their taxpayer-funded day jobs. Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm said Thursday that Kelly Rindfleisch, the former deputy chief of staff for Walker, also worked as a fundraiser for then lieutenant governor candidate Brett Davis. She is charged with four felony counts of misconduct in public office. Prosecutors say Rindfleisch spent...

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Tuesday that he’s not worried about the muddled state of affairs in the Republican presidential primary and predicts the party “will have a nominee pretty quickly.” “It’s a horse race. There’s no doubt about it. Let’s put this in perspective. We haven’t had one single primary yet,” said Priebus on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “We’ll get there. And we will have a nominee pretty quickly.” Priebus dismissed worries that there is currently no clear leader in the GOP contest and said it was nothing for Republicans to worry about.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus reiterated his call for Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation on Wednesday, and promised Operation Fast and Furious will be an election issue in 2012. “Holder may want to point fingers and play the blame game, but as the Attorney General, he bears the responsibility,” Priebus told The Daily Caller. “It’s past time for the attorney general to come clean and take responsibility and if he doesn’t, he has a boss who should.” “Obama’s leadership deficit in holding the members of his administration accountable demonstrates yet again that the president is taking Washington in the...

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus repeated his party’s commitment to stronger voter identification laws, saying that the GOP would not give up the fight against voter fraud. “I think that we need to make it easy to vote, hard to cheat, and I think that that’s a mantra that we ought to shout from the rooftops all over the country as a Party,” ... Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) Chairman David Norcross said that voter fraud issues were very real, despite complaints from liberals that it is largely a phantom problem. Cross cited several cases where states had found...

Republican Leadership Conference kicks off C.J. Ciaramella Top Republicans will flock to New Orleans today for the Republican Leadership Conference, where presidential hopefuls and GOP leaders will try to woo the party faithful during the three-day event. The annual conference, formerly the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, has become a bellwether for the Republican Party, especially because of its audience straw polls. Presidential candidates speaking this year include Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann Texas Rep. Ron Paul, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson and former Utah governor Jon Huntsman. (DNC chair looking forward to working...

RALEIGH, N.C (AP) — The Republican National Committee's new chairman on Wednesday pleaded with North Carolina party leaders for more money to support candidates in 2012, but some activists told him the national party needs to better embrace the conservative values of the tea party movement. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said Wednesday that North Carolina will be a battleground state in the 2012 election. President Barack Obama carried the Tar Heel State in 2008 and Democrats plan to hold their 2012 convention in Charlotte. But Priebus said the RNC will first need to make progress in reducing its debt. RNC...