"You had your shot," said former state representative Fran Bradley, who was chairing the convention. "What happened is the will of the majority and it's time to move on."

That irked Paul supporters who said they were victims of an undemocratic process. "We've been completely shut out of the process," said Lara Witte, a Paul supporter from Savage.

The Wall Street Journal has a little different take on the recent special election loss than my friend Kevin does.

If there is such a thing as a useful election defeat, then Tuesday's Republican loss in a special House election in Mississippi would qualify. Maybe this thumping in a heretofore safe GOP seat will finally scare the Members straight, or at least less crooked.

Democrats won with 54% of the vote in a district that a Republican won with 66% in 2006 and that President Bush carried in 2004 by 25 points. It was the GOP's third special election loss this year, and it has Democrats predicting that November will be another rout of 2006 proportions. Oklahoma's Tom Cole, who runs the National Republican Congressional Committee, captured the GOP reaction when he declared that "There is no district that is safe for Republican candidates."

Three straight special elections losses here in Minnesota have also driven the point home hard - especially coupled with the not-so-stunning caucus defeats by 3 of the so-called "Override 6".

This is the lesson Republicans should have learned in 2006, but the Members preferred to blame their failure on President Bush and Iraq. House Republicans pooh-poohed their own earmarking scandals, spending excesses and overall wallowing in the Beltway status quo. Rather than rethink their habits, they re-elected the same party leaders and even kept Jerry Lewis as their chief Appropriator. Congressman John Shadegg of Arizona is right when he says that "Since the 2006 elections, Republicans have done absolutely nothing to redefine themselves. We can't even get behind an earmark moratorium bill."

The state and national parties use the "2006 was just a tough year to be a Republican" meme to excuse the massive losses that they suffered, rather than taking the long hard introspective look at what THEY did wrong....and they did a lot wrong. Both the state and the national parties have abandoned running on a vision or message and decided that the best way to campaign is fear. They constantly point out what a horrible person the other guy is and then whine with the other side responds in kind! Meanwhile, no one knows what Republicans are supposed to stand for. It is that abandonment of the message that caused this very website to come into being! After all - SOMEONE needs to let people know what conservatism is about.

They've also been content to replay their same losing political attack strategy. In 2006, they thought they could save their majority by donning a Nancy Pelosi fright wig and shouting "liberal, liberal, liberal." This year they're wearing a Barack Obama mask, and that isn't working either.

In the Mississippi race, the national GOP tried to link Democratic candidate Travis Childers to Barack Obama and Reverend Jeremiah Wright. One TV ad declared: "Travis Childers: He took Obama's endorsement over our conservative values." But Mr. Childers was well known as a cultural conservative who favors gun rights and opposes abortion. In a year when Americans are mad as hell, such a negative attack strategy merely reminds voters that Republicans have run out of ideas.

I would maybe not say that Republicans have run out of ideas, but I would say that the consultancy class that the state and national parties rely on are woefully out of touch with the voters!

The Journal then goes on to say something that many on these pages have said for the last 3 years!

The better strategy is to offer a reform agenda of their own, especially one that begins to speak to the economic anxieties of the middle class. This includes doing some homework on health care for a change, instead of ceding that field to the Democrats. One of Tom DeLay's great blunders, among many, was failing to do anything about health care when Republicans controlled Washington in 2005. This year, John McCain is offering them a policy lifeline, and they should grab it.

Mr. McCain is also proposing to veto all earmarks, and you can hear the grating of teeth in the GOP caucus on that one. Yes, the "real money" is in entitlements. But there's nothing independent voters hate more than the self-dealing and incumbent protection that earmarks represent. An earmark ban would be potent political symbolism – and substance.

Democrats and the media want to cow Republicans into believing that tax cutting doesn't sell anymore. But tell that to Republican Mayor of Indianapolis Greg Ballard, who won an upset victory last year by calling for lower property taxes. The GOP should expand its tax cut message into a larger tax reform theme that also hits at the corruption of tax loopholes for the rich.

Voters are especially angry about rising prices for food and gasoline, and here too Republicans can start speaking for the middle class. The weak dollar policy of the Bush Administration and Federal Reserve has helped to cause the price spike, and Republicans on Capitol Hill should start talking about how inflation punishes those who work and save. With oil at $124 a barrel, voters are also willing to listen to a message that encourages more domestic energy production across the board – oil, natural gas, coal, shale and nuclear.

Yes, yes, yes, yes and YES!!!!! That is exactly what the voters in Minnesota AND America want to hear! However, we also want you to act on your campaign promises.

Democrats have settled on a formula of running as cultural conservatives in GOP districts, and as economic populists on "fiscal discipline," trade protection, corporate bashing, and "middle-class tax cuts" paid for by taxes on the rich. If Republicans can't trump that message with an agenda of low taxes, health-care affordability and portability, jobs and stable prices, they will be routed again in November.

We have already seen that the Democrats don't mean it when they campaign as fiscally disciplined. We saw (in 2006) Margaret Anderson-Kelliher stand before the microphones and claim that this new legislature would be fiscally moderate and then watched this same "fiscally moderate" DFL Leadership propose MILLIONS of dollars in tax increases over the last two years. The voters have a serious case of "buyers remorse". If the House Republican Caucus were smart, they would seize on that and propose a vision for Minnesota that not only highlights what they will do but it will give the voters an "accountability matrix" so that they realize that this caucus means what they say.

If they do this, it could reverse a very troubling trend. Will they learn this lesson? One can only hope the answer is a resounding "Yes we can!"

The Republican loss in the special election for Louisiana's Sixth Congressional District last Saturday should be a sharp wake up call for Republicans: Either Congressional Republicans are going to chart a bold course of real change or they are going to suffer decisive losses this November.

The facts are clear and compelling.

Saturday's loss was in a district that President Bush carried by 19 percentage points in 2004 and that the Republicans have held since 1975.

This defeat follows on the loss of Speaker Hastert's seat in Illinois. That seat had been held by a Republican for 76 years with the single exception of the 1974 Watergate election when the Democrats held it for one term. That same seat had been carried by President Bush 55-44% in 2004.

The Republican brand has been so badly damaged that if Republicans try to run an anti-Obama, anti- Reverend Wright, or (if Senator Clinton wins), anti-Clinton campaign, they are simply going to fail.

This model has already been tested with disastrous results.

A February Washington Post poll shows that Republicans have lost the advantage to the Democrats on which party can handle an issue better -- on every single topic.

Americans now believe that Democrats can handle the deficit better (52 to 31), taxes better (48 to 40) and even terrorism better (44 to 37).

This is a catastrophic collapse of trust in Republicans built up over three generations on the deficit, two generations on taxes, and two generations on national security.

The Democrats have done a better job of telling the voters where they stand on the issues.  What have the Republicans done?  Don't vote for X....she/he is a _____.  That's it!  The voting public have no clue where we stand on issues anymore!

So what does this mean for the Minnesota GOP?  It means that our leadership has to get off of the "Fright" train and develop a message that shows Minnesota that the GOP shares their values and their concerns.  The House Leadership has shown flashes that they get it.....however, there is only so much that they can do.  As long as Ron Carey is the public "face" of the MNGOP, he has got to be on the same page as the HRCC.  What the voters think about the top of the ticket (Norm Coleman, John McCain) trickles down ticket to the state house races.  If there is a disconnect between the voters and the message that Ron Carey puts in the press day in and day out, we could end up losing a Senate seat, at least two of our three Congressional seats and enough state house seats to give the DFL a veto proof majority in BOTH THE HOUSE AND THE SENATE!!!!

As we head toward the Convention and subsequent state central meeting, we need to decide what we as a party need to do to prevent what has the potential to be a slaughter of epic proportions.  All options should be on the table as this election is quite simply going to be the difference between having an overwhelming DFL majority for the next generation or a viable competitive Republican Party.  It really is do or die time.

Please Chairman Carey...for the sake of the state party...if you will not listen to me for God's sake listen to former Representative Gingrich!  The time has come to change course....please do not let it leave you behind.