Go for wedge issues, Gingrich tells lawmakers

The great divider advises the phony uniter - more of the same GOP destructive political tactics at a time when the nation needs to unite.
---BBB

Go for wedge issues, Gingrich tells lawmakers
By Jonathan E. Kaplan

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) has advised Republicans to focus this year's presidential campaign on a few "wedge issues" in an effort to paint Sens.
John Kerry and John Edwards as an out-of-the-mainstream ticket.

One GOP lawmaker told The Hill that Gingrich encouraged Republicans to pick issues such as school prayer, strengthening work requirements for welfare recipients and barring the United Nations from monitoring U.S. elections, which all polled at higher than an 80 percent rating.

"There's a consensus developing among activists that new issues are emerging where [the polling] is decidedly with us," the lawmaker said. "We can show a contrast."

Gingrich spelled out his views at a meeting last week organized by House GOP Conference Chairwoman Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio), the fourth-ranking member of the GOP House leadership.

Lawmakers who attended Wednesday's session expressed excitement about Gingrich's policy proposals and political tactics.

Rep. Phil English, a Republican who represents Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge's old district in northwestern Pennsylvania, said: "It is extremely useful in depicting Kerry's position on the political spectrum to raise issues like welfare reform where he's been on the far-left extreme."

He added, "We have a very good wedge issue. … It's worth asking why he is part of a rear-guard action blocking the permanency of welfare reform. Is he not out of touch with cultural issues of the rest of the country?"

Pryce said many lawmakers wanted copies of two speeches Gingrich had delivered outlining his views of this year's campaign. GOPAC, a political action committee, has made his speeches available on compact disc.
Gingrich spokesman Rick Tyler declined to comment.

Republican lawmakers glimpsed President Bush's agenda for a possible second term as well when he outlined general themes of his reelection campaign at last Wednesday's President's Dinner, which raised $23 million.

The president touched on giving voters "ownership" in healthcare, housing and retirement accounts but did not delve into specifics in any policy area. Attendees said Bush's mention of tort reform generated the biggest applause, as did National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Reynolds's (R-N.Y.) introduction of Bush as a "man of faith."

A senior GOP lawmaker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told The Hill: "Bush will flesh out ideas over the next month, lay out some themes and more specifics. There will be more focus on ?'If I'm reelected, I'll focus on this [issue].'"

He added that Bush would focus his second-term agenda on areas where he was less successful, such as energy policy and tort reform, as well as put more emphasis on Social Security reform and tax simplification.

A spokesman for the Bush-Cheney campaign did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie told House GOP lawmakers at their weekly conference Wednesday that Bush would start introducing his agenda at next month's GOP convention in New York City.

Most lawmakers seem comfortable with the pace of the president's campaign.

"I think he's got time," said Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.), whose 8th Congressional District is at once socially conservative and populist. "I'd like to see him focus on the uninsured, Medicare reform and rural issues."

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) said, "I really think that in the month of August leading up to the convention, the president's vision will come together. … I feel comfortable about the economy and progress in the war on terror."

Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) was less sanguine: "I did not hear [in Bush's speech at last week's dinner] what many conservatives were hoping to hear ... a compelling vision for Republican governance," an agenda that would include big-ticket issues such as Social Security and tax reform.

He added, "You can't beat a program without a program, and we'll win because our ideas are better."