However, House Republicans, who took the lead in the most bitter confrontations with the Democratic administration, have endured a net loss of seats in each of the past two elections. Even Republican leaders concede that the party's legislative setbacks have had an erosive effect on the enthusiasm of their bedrock conservative voters. Many independent analysts say that the concerns of Republican strategists that underlie this message campaign are legitimate. Republicans were unable to pass key tenets of the Contract with America. There are numerous other problems.
Disorder regularly erupts in the party's leadership ranks.
Key policy objectives, such as an attempt to pass a major tax cut this year, have been unmet. The party failed in its high-stakes, politically unpopular bid to remove President Clinton from office during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. And, to top it off, there is a perception that the party made substantial concessions to Clinton in this year's budget negotiations, Mann said. So Coverdell and Watts created their party-boosting brochure just in time for the winter congressional recess. Mann warned that the GOP should not get overzealous.