Introducing GOP Speaks

You've followed the national debate within the Republican Party about the political tactics it ought to use in an effort to better the country, retake Congress and challenge President Obama for the White House in 2012. But what do Republicans at the local level think?

To find out, I've started e-mailing a questionnaire to various Republican Party County Chairmen -- ultimately I hope to reach them all. This is quite time consuming, so if you find the information on this site useful, or think this is a worthwhile project, please hit the donate button on the side of the page. I'll consider doing other stuff like this in the future if I end up being compensated for it.

I've only sent e-mails to folks listed on an official GOP home page as a state chairman, a county chairman, a county vice-chairman, or a member of the county executive committee.

The responses are reprinted exactly as they arrived in my In-box.

The questions I posed:

1) So long as it's in the opposition, where should the Republican Party focus its energy?

2) What is the most worrisome part of Barack Obama's presidency?

3) There's been a lot of debate about the role that talk radio and cable news hosts should play on the right. Particularly controversial are Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Mark Levin. What do you think about these folks? Do they help the right or hurt it (or is it more complicated than that?) How should Republicans interact with them?

4) One particularly fraught controversy pertains to race in America -- with the first black president in the White House, some conservatives have been criticized as racists for opposing him, and some on the right have accused the Obama Administration or its allies of racism or anti-white sentiments (for example, Sonja Sottomayor's "wise Latina" comment drew fire, as did the Skip Gates incident). As the right thinks about political strategy and policy, how should it approach matters of race?

5) Is there anything you observe locally, or that Republicans in your area of the country care about, that doesn't get sufficient attention in the national media conversation? If so tell me a bit about the issue, and the approach you think the right ought to take.

6) Traditionally the Republican Party has been a coalition of religious conservatives, libertarians, fiscal conservatives, and national security conservatives. Is that alliance viable going forward? If so, what must be done to hold it together? If not, what alliance should the GOP try to build?

7) Is there anything I didn't ask about that you'd like the media or the country as a whole to know?