LLOYD GRAY: Don’t count Barbour out at any level
In early 1993, the Republican Party was in disarray. Bill Clinton had taken the White House from George Bush the elder and the Reagan Revolution had run out of steam.
Enter Haley Barbour as chairman of the Republican National Committee. Barbour was the lead architect of the strategy that brought a Republican majority to the U.S. House in 1994 – remember the “Contract with America”? – and installed Newt Gingrich as speaker. A fellow named Roger Wicker was elected to Congress that year in an open seat that had been held forever by Democrats. He became president of the GOP freshman class.
Now back in political exile and trying to find itself, the national Republican Party has again called on Barbour, this time in a less official role. He’s one of a handful of GOPers who will be reshaping the party’s message in the coming months.
Lloyd Gray, editor of the Daily Journal.
5/18/9
