Sanford in March: "Republican Governors" Are GOP's Future

It's probably safe the say that Mark Sanford isn't the the Republicans' anointed savior anymore, riding to Washington before 2012 to reinvent the GOP. Of course just a few months ago -- you might even say a week ago -- the storyline was mighty different. You had a respected, young and rising young governor. He hadn't, yet, attracted unflattering national attention (that would come weeks later, when he unsuccessfully tried to refuse to stimulus dollars for his state) and he had the virtuous attribute of being geographically disconnected from Washington. So in March, right around the time of obvious instability in the Republican Party -- recall Steele vs. Limbaugh, quickly followed by apology-gate -- Newsweek called on Sanford to talk strategy.

You can read the whole interview here. But a couple excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: In devising a new strategy for the party, where do you go from here?
SANFORD: There is an eternal tug of war within the party on where we go from here and how we find a way out. One camp says the key is to appeal to Hispanics and women and use technology more. The way out of the wilderness is to grow the tent. The other camp—and the one I fall in—says that you can build a big tent, but you have to make sure the poles can hold it up and that you're working from a good foundation. In many ways, a political party is nothing more than a brand. The great brands of time have succeeded in as much is that they've done what they say they're going to do. People buy a John Deere tractor because it does what it says they're going to do.

Who's responsible for crafting that image of what the party is supposed to do and turning around and selling it to people?
From a tactical standpoint, it's got to be Republican governors. The minority in Congress can try to impede policy, but that's very difficult. In these economic times, people want changes that will make a difference in their lives. I think that the way out of the wilderness will be getting back to the core and getting policies implemented that will be instrumental in people's lives. And I think for that, Republican governors will be particularly important.

Toward the end of the interview, I asked Sanford about the "rising star" label -- how it felt to know his party expected big things of him. "That's very flattering and kind," he said, awkwardly unsure of what else he could say. "But I can't be focused on that." Apparently, we now know, he wasn't.