2008: Repubs push for "innovation" at their winter meeting

Is Ken Mehlman trying to recruit Mike Bloomberg as the Republican candidate for 2008???

This from the New York Sun:

WASHINGTON — Republicans can no longer rely on superior campaigning and must instead offer American voters "bold" and "innovative" ideas if they are to retake Congress in 2008, two GOP leaders told party officials at the start of their annual winter meeting yesterday.

The outgoing chairman of the Republican National Committee, Kenneth Mehlman, and the House minority leader, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, each urged committee members gathered at the Grand Hyatt Hotel to learn from mistakes over the last two years as they regroup from defeat in the midterm elections.

Yet while Messrs. Boehner and Mehlman cited a number of reasons why Republicans lost —among them a lack of new ideas and several corruption scandals — neither made direct mention of one issue that some say contributed more than anything to the Democratic victory: Iraq.

Echoing a Democratic strategy in 2006, Mr. Boehner pushed Republicans to expand their party's reach to regions that have recently voted blue, such as the Northeast and the upper Midwest. ... (New York Sun - you need a subscription to read the whole article....)

And this about the new Repub head Sen. Mel Martinez:
...Republicans also lost ground during the last election with independent voters, many of whom were unhappy with the Iraq war and congressional scandals. On the eve of Martinez's RNC election, Florida Democrats were quick to brand him unethical because disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff once served as a co-sponsor of a $250,000 fundraising event for him.... (Orlando Sentinel)