GOP Stars Turn Out in San Diego

Some of the biggest names in the Republican Party are in San Diego for a governors conference.

Newt Gingrich on Thursday urged GOP governors to turn what he calls "the rejection of the left" into "the replacement of the left" by enacting conservative, transformational policies in the states.

Gingrich spoke at the Republican Governors Association conference at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel. Also speaking at the event will be Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels. Others expected at the event reportedly included prospective presidential candidates and governors Haley Barbour of Mississippi, Texas' Rick Perry, Louisiana's Bobby Jindal and Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota.
     
"The great victories of 2009 and 2010 are only the beginning," Gingrich said. "The elections of 2011 and 2012 must create a Republican majority large enough and durable enough to replace the increasingly leftist political system which has dominated America since 1932."
     
The former House speaker and possible 2012 presidential candidate outlined a dozen steps governors can take to make what he calls "transformational change" in a speech to the Republican Governors Association conference. Among them: requiring the jobless to take training programs in return for unemployment compensation, moving toward replacing President Barack Obama's health care law, and paying good teachers more while cutting loose bad ones.
          
"The challenge for us is to have a Republican Party of jobs and paychecks replace a Democratic Party of bureaucracy and food stamps," Gingrich said, adding that the effort starts in statehouses across the country.

He also announced plans to hold five Internet seminars to flesh out those proposals.
 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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