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The Republican Party has two comeback plans after the 2012 election, and they are total opposites: Plan A is to win presidential elections by appealing to broader audience that reflects America's "changing demographics." Plan B is to just change the rules of presidential elections so that rural white voters get a disproportional vote.
In a speech accepting a second term as Republican National Committee chairman on Friday, Reince Priebus will talk about appealing to new voters, The New York Times' Jeff Zeleny reports. "To those who have left the party, we want to earn your trust again," Priebus will say. "To those who have yet to join us, we welcome you, with open doors and open arms." At the RNC's winter meeting Thursday, GOP leaders were clear about who those people are. The RNC's Glenn McCall was even more explicit about who the GOP needs to target, telling The Wall Street Journal, "There are large portions of the population—African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, young voters—who simply don't know us. We have to change that." McCall is not alone. "The demographic changes in America are real, and they are a wake-up call to the Republican Party," said Henry Barbour, the nephew of former RNC chair and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who decided against a 2012 presidential run after spending months trying to explain his way around comments praising segregationists. The younger Barbour is on the Growth and Opportunity Project, the RNC's five-member panel that's supposed to figure out a comeback plan.