Republican approval ratings are in the toilet and the 2014 midterm elections are right around the corner. In addition, 2016 is already on the campaign strategy table and donors aren't wasting any time writing big checks. If Republicans want to win, they're going to need a plan and longtime GOP strategist Ford O'Connell has a controversial one ready.
In his new book, Hail Mary: The 10-Step Playbook For Republican Recovery, O'Connell offers the GOP 10 rules about how to take on controversial issues that split not only Democrats and Republicans, but the Republican Party itself. His four main themes are the following:
-"Hug the Gays"; embrace them and make them part of the political base.
-Reform the GOP primary process to make it a little more like the Lincoln Douglass debates and less like a deathmatch version of "Survivor".
-Reach out to nontraditional and Leftist media. End the Reagan fetish.
-Come to terms with the fact that Ronald Reagan and the Reagan coalition are dead and not coming back
In his book, O'Connell describes the state of the GOP in football terms.
"Fourth and long. If this were a football game, that's where the Republicans would be right now. We are on our fourth down in the fourth quarter and trailing by a few touchdowns on the scoreboard," he writes. "Even now, in the fifth year of an Obama presidency, we're still hanging in there. But the odds are getting longer. And the consequences are potentially severe."
O'Connell's ideas in the book are controversial, he takes on abortion, voter ignorance, gay rights, immigration and even Ronald Reagan, but provides important campaign strategy against Democrats who have been winning for years.