Sep 4, 2008 6:44 pm US/Central
State Republicans At RNC Discuss Rebuilding Party
GOP Has Steadily Been Losing Suburban Support
ST. PAUL (CBS) ―
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Former U.S. House leader Bob Michael at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., delivered an impassioned speech to Illinois Republicans, exhorting them to rebuild their party.
CBS
The Republican convention is not only about nominating candidates for president and vice president – it also involves state politics.
CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports Illinois Republicans in St. Paul, Minn., are talking about rebuilding their party, which they desperately need to do.
The suburbs that were once overwhelmingly Republican have increasingly in the last 10 to 20 years become Democratic, at both the state and national levels, to the point where Illinois Republicans do not hold a single statewide office.
One of the party's veterans, former U.S. House GOP leader Bob Michael, told his fellow delegates that he has never seen the state's Republicans in such bad shape.
"I've always been a party man," he said on a lunchtime cruise. "A strong organizational man. And I'll tell ya, let's face it folks, the party as an organization in Illinois is wanting. That's why we don't have a constitutional office in the state of Illinois.
Peoria's Michael, a longtime leader in Washington D.C., had a prescription.
"And you folks, your obligation as delegates to this convention seems to me is to go back home and stir things up!" Michael said.
DuPage County's Sen. Dan Cronin said after Michael's speech, "I feel energized by it. … This is family, to have a conversation with your dad and he's telling you what you gotta do to get where you gotta be."
But the state senate's GOP leader disagreed.
"I think he's talking about the past," said Frank Watson. "He certainly can't be talking about today. For certain we've had our problems… but we are rebuilding."
There is no consensus among Illinois Republicans about why this has happened, why they are losing and have lost much of the suburbs.
But there is a consensus among all the Republicans who are considering running as candidates in 2010, when those statewide offices are going to be up for election again: Gov. Rod Blagojevich's low job approval ratings, together with those of the other feuding Democrats in Springfield is likely to make that year an ideal golden opportunity for Illinois Republicans.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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