CHRIS MADDALONI/CQ ROLL CALL/GETTY IMAGES
— a series of more immediate and
pressing questions came to mind:
How will the Republican Party and
the broader conservative movement it’s meant to embody fix
their problems with the poor, the
disadvantaged, women and minorities? How will the Republican
Party evolve?
Romney’s loss forced the GOP to
recognize that its support is built
on a shrinking base of aging, ethnically monolithic and geographically isolated voters — while the
Democrats have amassed a coalition of growing and engaged constituencies. As one very senior
Senate Republican aide put it to
me, the party can’t win national
and statewide elections just with
“older white people” anymore.
The path back for Republicans, and for conservatives more
broadly, is as much cultural as it is
tactical. Tactically, they need better candidates, and younger, more
diverse people at all levels: political consultants, field operatives,
grassroots volunteers. But to attract organic support from young
people, women and minorities and
continue harvesting new faces,
conservatism needs an attitude
adjustment: get hungry, get humble, and get to know more people
who aren’t like you.
Sen. Jim
DeMint,
R-SC,
the new
president of
The Heritage
Foundation, a
conservative
think tank.