Words to Win By

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The 212 Republican congressmen running for reelection won in these very districts in 2002, the year of Enron, when $7 trillion disappeared with the stock market drop and Iraq loomed. They won in 2004 when Bush limped across the finish line with 51 percent and Iraq was a boat anchor. No one was elected on Bush's coattails. Democrats who think they can win running against Bush and Iraq should remember GOP hopes in 1998. Iraq is Monica Lewinsky: tough on the president's poll numbers but not a reason to vote against your congressman.

-- Grover G. Norquist , president, Americans for Tax Reform

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Republicans should heed those who want the war on terror won without the abridgement of civil liberties. They should allow Korean War veteran John Warner, Vietnam POW John McCain and Gulf War military lawyer Lindsey Graham to speak for them, to show that they are not wholly taken by the imperial claims of an increasingly unpopular president.

-- David Boaz, executive vice president, Cato Institute

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If Republican candidates can demonstrate a lengthy record of accomplishment, they will survive the political wave. If voters see Republicans fighting for them, they'll win. If they see them fighting to keep their jobs, they won't. And if Republicans want to increase turnout, they need to be strong advocates for cutting wasteful Washington spending and against illegal immigration. Any weakness on either issue is political suicide.

-- Frank Luntz , GOP pollster

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Lead with solutions and ignore your critics. Let them fester in the corner mumbling about low approval ratings and ridiculing the president. It will underscore how bitter and disorganized they are without your saying it.

Preview life under the Democrats. Show a blank piece of paper and title it, "The Democratic Vision and Concrete Alternatives for a Better America."

Apologize to conservatives. Many in your own base are smarting over Iraq, federal spending and the lack of movement on immigration. Admit missteps and engage them, because if they stay home, it is trouble.

-- Kellyanne Conway, Republican pollster