RNC Chief: GOP Needs Better Ideas

Republican National Committee chief Mike Duncan laments the sorry state of the GOP in a private memo to committee members obtained by TPM Election Central. The memo, written to explain the creation of the new "Center for Republican Renewal" think-tank, acknowledges that the party has too often put politics before policy and needs to find real solutions to people's problems if it is to stay afloat.

"Republicans have grown accustomed to having our party recognized as the 'Party of Ideas,' but we must acknowledge that many Americans today believe the party is stale and does not deserve that label," reads the memo. "We have not used our principles to provide solutions to the kitchen table concerns of middle-class America." (More Mike Duncan stories.)