AP: Shannon Showcased As GOP Rising Star
In Boston, GOP party pushes rising stars
BOSTON – Republican officials are looking to promote a fresh group of diverse rising stars to help resolve their election woes, while frustrated party elders insist that all Republicans must offer more solutions for the nation’s most pressing issues.
The calls for change come nine months after a painful 2012 election in which the GOP lost the presidential race and a handful of close Senate contests. A tug of war over the Republican Party’s future is on display as conservative activists and party leaders from across the country gather in Boston this week for the Republican National Committee’s annual summer meeting.
“We have to get beyond being anti-Obama,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich declared at the gathering Wednesday, offering a particularly harsh critique of Republican strategy on health care.
Gingrich said congressional Republicans would have “zero answer” for how to replace the president’s health care overhaul when asked, despite their having voted repeatedly to repeal the measure.