RNC launches official evaluation of Republican strategy

The Republican National Committee is in a period of reassessment after a disappointing election cycle in which the party lost the White House and failed to take control of the Senate.

It has formed a new committee launched expressly for the purpose of evaluating what worked and what didn't in past campaigns, and making suggestions for the future.

The effort, titled the Growth and Opportunity Project, is co-chaired by Mississippi RNC committeeman Henry Barbour, Puerto Rico RNC committeewoman Zori Fonalledas, South Carolina RNC committeeman Glenn McCall, Florida political operative Sally Bradshaw and Ari Fleischer, who served as press secretary to former President George W. Bush.

Those co-chairmen will review campaign mechanics and ground game efforts; messaging and fundraising success rates; demographics; the effects of third-party groups; campaign finance issues; presidential primaries; and what can be learned from successful Democratic efforts.

"The Growth and Opportunity Project will recommend a plan to further ensure Republicans are victorious in 2013, 2014, 2016 and beyond," said RNC Chairman Reince Priebus in a statement.

The GOP failed to take back the Senate or the White House in this cycle, despite odds initially favoring Republicans in the Senate and a poor economy and an incumbent Democratic president with low to middling approval ratings. The party also saw its majority in the House shrink slightly.

Those losses revealed structural deficits within the party with key demographic groups: women, Hispanics and young voters. Republicans have been meeting both in public and private to discuss how to broaden the party's appeal and reach out to those voters they had trouble with this cycle.

The Growth and Opportunity Project is an effort to systematically tackle the soul-searching the with which the party is currently engaged, and to offer concrete solutions to prevent this cycle's issues from plaguing the GOP in the future.

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