After String of Losses, Republicans Face Crisis

Rep. Ric Keller (Fla.), routinely targeted by Democrats in his Orlando district, said that Republicans from swing districts need the latitude to seek more moderate solutions, to be "independent folks who are trying to solve problems."

Rep. Mike Pence (Ind.), however, said the GOP needs to be more true to its conservative grass roots.

"Until we convince our public we have renewed our commitment to limited government and fiscal discipline, we will continue to lose," he said.

Rep. Walter B. Jones (N.C.), who just crushed a primary opponent challenging him on his antiwar stance, said it is time to break with Bush and find a way out of Iraq.

"If this party does not look at options and figure out how to pursue those options, we're in real trouble," he said.

Several Republicans decried the NRCC's strategy in the Mississippi and Louisiana special elections of nationalizing the campaigns by linking the Democratic candidates to Obama. All that did, they said, was energize African Americans to vote, while taking the GOP's focus off the local issues the Democrats were riding to victory. "Cheap, partisan political points" are not going to work in this environment, Keller said.

At a tense closed-door meeting of the House Republican Conference, Cole took full responsibility for the string of losses. But in a hastily arranged conference call with reporters, he dismissed any call for his resignation or a staff shakeup, which some Republicans have suggested may be necessary.

"You have to get beyond campaign tactics and take a long, hard look if there's something wrong with your product," he said. "It would be a great mistake to think that this could be fixed by tweaking a few things or a staff thing."

And Cole rejected the notion of a dramatic break with Bush.

"I don't see it particularly as an advantage to be in a debate with our president," he said. "It's not for me to second-guess the president of the United States."

But the numbers point to some dramatic action. In recent days, two polls put Sen. Elizabeth Dole's Democratic challenger within striking distance of her in North Carolina. Another poll showed Democrats gaining on Smith, a moderate who appeared to be escaping the heat of the election year. Even Sen. John Cornyn, one of Bush's closest allies and a fellow Texan, may be feeling some heat from state Rep. Rick Noriega, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan.

"We haven't hit bottom yet. I've never seen members so frustrated or demoralized," former House majority leader Tom DeLay (Tex.) said in an interview.

DeLay and former House speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) have been issuing calls to arms to their former troops. But even they disagree on the steps needed to reverse their fortunes, with Gingrich demanding an emergency meeting of all Republicans to craft a new agenda. Gingrich is offering unusual proposals such as reforming the Census Bureau and the Federal Aviation Administration.

But DeLay called those ideas "a yawn" and instead demanded a dramatic agenda that would energize the conservative base -- or else face major losses in the fall leading to wholesale changes in leadership next year.

"That sort of thing will happen over time if there are more losses. You can never gauge when members have had enough," he said.

"There is no simple, easy way out of this," said Glen Bolger, a GOP pollster who works closely with congressional Republicans. "This is extraordinarily problematic."