Andy Brehm: What must Republicans do to reconnect with voters?

Soon after leading his country to victory in World War II, Winston Churchill faced the prospect of losing his job. Despite his personal popularity, Conservatives were faring poorly in the polls prior to the 1945 parliamentary elections, and their defeat would mean the loss of Churchill's premiership. The London Times suggested that to save the legendary statesman from embarrassment, Churchill should campaign as a nonpartisan and retire soon after the election.

"Mr. Editor," Churchill replied to the first point, "I fight for my corner." And, to the second: "Mr. Editor, I leave when the pub closes."

British Conservatives were badly beaten in that election. But Churchill stood steadfast. He helped rebuild and repair his party, and in a few years led them again to victory.

On Tuesday, American conservatives suffered a similarly disappointing defeat. We will soon have a Democrat in the White House backed by the largest Democratic majorities in Congress in a generation.

But Republicans should not despair. The next two years are a time to regroup and return to our fundamental principles -- not a time to quit. This election did not signal a national ideological sea change; polls show the United States remains a moderate-to-conservative country. To regain the confidence of American voters, the Republican Party need not surrender its guiding ideals, but rather must reclaim them with a fearlessness and fidelity that been missing in recent years. A compelling and articulate plan for reform should again be expected from those who now seek to lead the GOP.

History shows that conservatives often come out of the political wilderness stronger and more focused. In the late 1970s, following Watergate, a Democratic president and a strong Democratic congressional majorities ran Washington. Republicans understood that their party was in serious trouble. They rejected the GOP establishment's anemic offerings. They embraced the uplifting, intellectually vigorous vision of Ronald Reagan. That vision inspired a generation, brought forth a wave of conservative economic and foreign-policy reforms, and returned Republicans to power for more than a decade.

And when Bill Clinton took office in 1993, Democrats controlled large majorities on Capitol Hill. Nevertheless, Republicans again retooled, and in two short years achieved victory by promising to deliver smaller government, welfare reform, lower taxes and a host of common-sense reforms.

In recent years, the basic tenets of conservatism that are the foundation of the Republican Party have often been abandoned. It's no wonder why today we stand on shaky political ground. Many self-described fiscal conservatives, including President Bush, have declined to make the tough spending cuts once expected of Republicans. Instead they increased the size of government and expanded entitlements without regard to the mounting national debt. One fine example was Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose central selling point in his reelection bid this year was his long record of delivering hundreds of millions of dollars in pork-barrel spending to this home state of Kentucky. When did freebies become the centerpiece of the Republican agenda? It is time to move beyond the era of big-spending Republicans.

Many Republicans have been too timid in defending sound conservative policy positions that can attract new voters while rallying the party faithful. We have failed, for example, to draw the connection between the centralization of money and power in the bureaucracies of Washington and the inducements to corruption that big government brings. Rather than reaching out to lower-income families by promoting school vouchers, there is silence on the issue. And even though limiting trade will surely cripple the American economy, we heard little from GOP candidates this year about the dangers of the Democratic protectionism.

The Republican Party must once again become known as the home of exceptionally capable leaders. Nationally, there has been a trend in the GOP to exalt folksiness over experience, raw confidence over competence. American voters are more discerning than they get credit for, and when given the choice between an entertaining candidate or one of superior ability, they will select the latter. That is why Republicans like Norm Coleman and Erik Paulsen were able to do so well within their Democratic-leaning constituencies this year. Among other things, they were clearly the most qualified candidates in their respective races.

The Republican Party had a disappointing 2008. But conservative core principles were not the problem. The problem was our long lack of fidelity to them. To move forward, the GOP must reclaim its reputation as the party of policy dynamism, of responsible, tested leadership, and of limited government. We have done so before; we can do so again. We will not leave until the pub closes.

Andy Brehm, a Minneapolis attorney, is former press secretary to Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn.