THE GIST OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS THE WHITE SOUTH. TAKE THAT AWAY, AND THERE'S NOTHING MUCH LEFT OF THIS PARTY. THE GOP MUST REDEFINE ITSELF BEYOND RACE AND SAYING "NO" TO MODERNITY.
By Ed Stoddard - Analysis
DALLAS (Reuters) - The Texas governor ponders secession from the United States, anti-tax "tea parties" are held and some states snub federal economic "stimulus" funds.
The U.S. Republican Party's conservative base is fired up and taking aim at the old target of "big government" as its opposition hardens to the agenda of President Barack Obama and a U.S. Congress controlled by his fellow Democrats.
But some analysts say the Republicans, after setbacks in the 2006 congressional elections and the 2008 presidential election, risk turning off more voters than they attract if they embrace the kind of populism on display lately.
The Republican Party and the conservative movement are at a crossroads as they search for a winning formula after George W. Bush left office in January as a deeply unpopular president.
"Republicans need to figure out what it means to be a Republican and a conservative in a post-Bush era," said Dennis Goldford, a political scientist at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
And the political base -- largely white, male, Southern, evangelical Christian and rural -- appears to be shrinking.
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