RNC Women

Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle just finished up a powerful and inspiring speech to the attendees at the RNC Island Summit.

Governor Lingle spoke about the importance of the grassroots in political campaigns in local races on up to Congressional elections.  And she should know, having put together one of the great grassroots campaigns in recent history when she won re-election in 2006 with 63% of the vote and became the first Hawaiian candidate for governor to win each of Hawaii's 51 state house districts.

Governor Lingle provided her insight in how to put together a winning campaign - work district by district and person by person.  She reminded all of the attendees of their power to impact hundreds or even thousands of voters in the 2010 election.  A person to person campaign that features neighbors knocking on doors and calling their friends is a powerful force in electoral politics.

Finally, Governor Lingle urged her audience to look for candidates - like Hawaiian ... more

Nationally renowned pollster Linda DiVall just finished up her presentation to the attendees at today's summit.  Linda has worked with some of the best and brightest in our party, including the Bush-Cheney campaigns, Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senator Bob Dole.

Linda is working with the RNC Women's Program to gather data on voter attitudes toward female Republican candidates, as well as information on how to communicate more effectively with female voters.  Republican candidates have made tremendous strides in the past year in reaching out to women voters.  Huge swings among women in New Jersey and Virginia helped elect Republican governors in those states, and Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts continued the same trend of improved performance by Republican candidates with female voters.  If that trend continues, a Republican majority in Congress in 2011 becomes much more likely.

For access to Linda's presentation on the latest polling data, including PowerPoint ... more

As part of a series of summits held around the country to help train and activate Republican volunteers and future candidates, the RNC Women's program is hosting an Island Summit today in Honolulu. 

The attendees will hear from national polling experts, RNC staff and experienced campaign operatives on how to organize campaigns, run local parties and run for office themselves.  On stage now is Jonah Ka'auwai, the Chairman of the Hawaii Republican Party.  Hawaii provides even more evidence that Republicans can win anywhere, with Governor Linda Lingle serving her second term as the state's chief executive, Honolulu City Councilman Charles Djou running in a tight race in a special election for U.S. House and Lieutenant Governor Duke Aiona sprinting through a dynamic campaign to succeed Lingle as governor.

Check back here often, as we'll be live blogging from the summit as more speakers take the stage. 

In the wake of Republican Scott Brown's upset win in Massachusetts, the Obama White House showed once again how tone deaf it has become in listening to the American people. 

The lead to a follow-up story in Wednesday's Washington Post says it all:

"President Obama's White House sought Wednesday morning to confront a political disaster by walking a fine line: saying they've heard the message from angry voters while insisting they will press forward with the president's agenda, including health-care reform."

If the voters in Massachusetts said one thing on Tuesday, it's that they don't want a top-down government takeover of health care.  According to polling, 42 percent of the voters on Tuesday cast their ballot specifically, or in part, to prevent ObamaCare from becoming law.  The voters in Massachusetts were loud and clear.  They are angry that the White House has gone too far, too fast and they want the Democrats to go back to the drawing table to draft a new bill in concert ... more

Exit polling data from Massachusetts last night makes clear what many of us have known for months - the American people simply aren't interested in a government takeover of health care.

Fifty-two percent of voters surveyed last night said they opposed the Democrats' health care takeover legislation.  Just over 42 percent of Massachusetts voters said they cast their ballot specifically to stop ObamaCare in its tracks.

These numbers should be staggering for the Obama White House and their allies in Congress.  From the beginning, Republicans asked to be allowed into the negotiations over the final bill.  Each time, the Democratic leadership closed its doors to Republican input.

Now, it appears that the voters may be ready to show Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid the door.  Scott Brown made clear last night that Republicans can win anywhere in the country if they talk with voters about issues that matter.  And the voters made clear that they are willing to vote against any Democrat who ... more

Nearly all of the pundits and prognosticators agree that 2010 is setting up to be a good year for Republican candidates.  What they don’t say is that the reason our Party’s electoral prospects are so good in 2010 is because of the gains we made in 2009. 

Experienced Members of Congress will tell you that the most important part of their job is more often than not stopping bad legislation from becoming law.  Nancy Pelosi and President Obama first promised that a health care overhaul would be done by last August.  Republicans blocked their takeover efforts until the August recess and gave millions of people the opportunity to have their voices heard at town meetings and tea parties.  

The last year also saw the GOP make significant progress in the off year elections in Virginia and New Jersey.  The gains made in critical demographic groups, especially with women voters, propelled GOP candidates to wins in gubernatorial races that saw significant investment from the national ... more

While the House Intelligence Committee is meeting today to review the events leading up to the failed attack on Flight 253 over Michigan, Americans everywhere should be concerned about the choices the Obama Administration made over its first year that have significantly weakened our national security. 

Indeed, with one of his first acts in office the President announced he would close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.  Now the President has announced a plan to house many of the detainees from Guantanamo Bay right in America’s heartland, in a facility about 150 miles from Chicago.   Moving these detainees from a military prison in Cuba to a federal facility in Illinois will not prevent one single terrorist attack, and it is extraordinarily dangerous to give terrorists who want to destroy our constitutional form of government the rights that our Constitution provides. 

If essentially hiring attorneys for our enemies wasn’t enough, the Obama White House also gave them our ... more

On top of the news that another 85,000 Americans lost their jobs in December despite a $787 billion stimulus that the Obama Administration promised would “save or create” 3.5 million jobs, now Democrats are putting the finishing touches on a second round of $174 billion in stimulus spending. 

Is there any problem that the liberals in Congress believe can’t be solved by throwing taxpayer money at it?  President Obama’s budget will enact nearly more red ink than was accumulated in the first 220 years of the Republic combined.  Now, the U.S. House has already approved the additional $174 billion in stimulus spending, with the Senate expected to follow. 

The first stimulus bill was filled with pork barrel spending, but did little to spur investment in small businesses.  Even now, much of that spending hasn’t even reached its intended recipient.  The second stimulus bill approved by the House would simply subsidize the same federal spending as the first stimulus instead of providing tax ... more

Last February, President Obama signed into law a $787 billion stimulus package financed on the backs of unborn generations of Americans.  After the signing ceremony, the President even said that the legislation “will create or save 3.5 million jobs over the next two years.”  

Eleven months after that ceremony, we have the final report card on the Obama stimulus package.  Since the President signed the bill, 2.8 million Americans have lost their jobs.  Today, we learned that another 85,000 Americans joined the unemployment rolls in the month of December.  These numbers are staggering.  The Obama stimulus has failed.  The tragedy is that it didn’t have to be this way.    

Last year, in the debate leading up to passage of the Obama stimulus package, Republicans offered a better way.  The Republican package included cuts to the individual tax rates that would have saved the average married couple filing jointly up to $3,200 per year.  And, because at least 60% of job growth comes out ... more

I refuse to be a member of AARP.  If you are one of the organization’s members and care about preserving your freedom to make your own health care decisions, you should tear up your card and send it back in protest.

Throughout the debate over health care reform,   AARP has been steadfast in its support for this liberal takeover.  In a release praising passage of the House health bill in November, AARP even said that the Democrats’ legislation “protects Medicare and ensures that it will be there for today's seniors and for the future generations.” 

At the time, many senior citizens wondered how AARP could make such a patently false statement.  Democratic leaders have not been shy in saying that the bill will cut hundreds of billions in Medicare spending and more than $150 billion on Medicare Advantage plans.  These Medicare Advantage plans are relied on by millions of seniors for supplemental insurance to cover any gaps left by normal Medicare plans. 

Now we know how AARP kept a ... more