COMMENTARY: How Republicans can win again

Two years from now, post-election stories in New Hampshire should be about how many seats the Republican party won back. Here are things the party can do to reverse the outcome next time:

First, give conservative Republican base voters a reason to turn out with something and someone to vote for. The 2006 Republican survival strategy of stressing moderation and independence in an effort to appeal to centrist voters utterly failed. It made no difference to the left wing activists who supported Carol Shea-Porter that Jeb Bradley is a moderate; they wouldn't have voted for Jeb under any circumstances. The very independents whose support Charlie Bass sought by running from the Republican label voted against him, and the conservative base which could have saved him were not motivated enough to do so.
Better to adopt the strategy employed by U.S. Sen. John Sununu in 2002 in his heavyweight battle against then Gov. Jeanne Shaheen. Sununu did not run to the center. He made no excuses about being a mainstream conservative and gave New Hampshire voters a real choice between his approach to government and that of Shaheen, who ran as a centrist. Sununu won -- and he'll be on the ballot again in 2008.

Second, in the Legislature, the Republican minority should start behaving like the loyal opposition -- with the key word being "opposition." The strategy of trying to hug Gov. John Lynch, adopted by legislative leaders, reminded me of Ronald Reagan's old quote about feeding the crocodile hoping it will eat you last. That's just what happened: Nearly all the Republican incumbents who ran campaigns stressing how well they got along with the governor got eaten. Legislative Republicans should oppose Lynch when they disagree and offer policy alternatives. They will suffer legislative defeats, but that's what happens when you are in the minority. It doesn't mean ideological battles should not be fought. Finally, run as a team even if the top of the ticket is expected to lose.

If Jim Coburn had received even 30-35 percent of the vote on Tuesday, many more Republicans would have been spared. As Ben Franklin said, hang together or hang separately