Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) are trying to achieve a goal that many believe is unattainable: getting the Republican Party energized for the 2008 election.
The lawmakers, who are the co-chairmen of the Republican Platform Committee, told The Hill in an interview last week that they are soliciting opinions from the platform committee’s website, their colleagues and groups hailing from “all walks of life.”
They also plan to craft a shorter platform than four years ago.
“Wasn’t it 44,000 words?” Burr asked, referring to the 92-page 2004 party platform. “If anybody only reads half the document, then they only have half the picture of what the Republican Party is. We’d like to do this in a way that people get the full picture, and if part of that means saying what we need to say more succinctly, then we are going to do that.”
Republicans are not the only audience that the two lawmakers hope picks up their document, which will be officially adopted the week before the Republican convention by 112 state delegates.
Recognizing that this election year promises to be another in which independents will play a major role in who will move into the White House next year, Burr and McCarthy are hoping that independents and conservative Democrats post ideas for the GOP platform at www.gopplatform2008.com.
McCarthy said inclusion is the key to generating excitement about the ideas that will eventually become the official principles of the party.
McCarthy and Burr were only willing to speculate a bit on the principles that might be included in the platform, explaining that they had not finished taking public comment. But they did say the platform was unlikely to please everyone.
“We’re not afraid to debate our issues. We’ve got it out in the open and that’s why, at the end of the day, you come down with a principled theme of where you are going — and I believe the vast majority of Republicans are going to like where they see this thing going,” McCarthy said.
Unity has been hard to come by in the GOP recently. The party has all but adopted an “every lawmaker for himself” approach to campaign fundraising and faces a split on major economic issues such as the housing crisis. In addition, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), who as the presumptive Republican nominee will headline the GOP convention in Minneapolis, has bucked his party on a range of issues.
McCarthy and Burr say they are not concerned.
“I would be shocked if we had one Republican that agreed with every word and line of the party platform,” Burr said. “So I don’t think it’s our job, nor would I like to see our party try to limit ourselves to only the people that agree with us 100 percent.”
McCarthy recently said that the convention may feature two platforms, one for McCain’s campaign and another for the convention. McCain’s will not call for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, while the convention platform will likely call for drilling there.
Burr added that “core issues,” such as a strong anti-abortion rights stance and national security, as well as fiscal issues, are staples of the GOP.
“I would imagine one of the pillars or principles of the Republican platform is going to be our tax policy,” he said.
The North Carolina senator also said the global economy will be an area where he expects change from the previous platforms.
There is, he said, “a greater need to talk about the global opportunities, which requires us to be a little more specific on global trade, and the U.S. position on that.”
While McCarthy said he has heard from his House colleagues on many issues they hope will be included in the platform, Burr said he hasn’t been lobbied a lot on his side of the Capitol.
“Which I think is a good sign, because right now they are focused on the immediacy of the legislative challenges that we have in Washington,” Burr said. “I expect that as we grow closer to the end of the legislative business, and certainly as we grow closer to August, I will probably be the recipient of e-mails … When all of the sudden they have begun to think about this.”
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