Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Michael Steele is launching an effort to attract new members by utilizing Hip-Hop to make the Grand Old Party (GOP) an appealing option worth considering.
“We need messengers to really capture that region – young, Hispanic, black, a cross section,” Steele told The Washington Times. “We want to convey that the modern-day GOP looks like the conservative party that stands on principles. But we want to apply them to urban-suburban Hip-Hop settings.”
Among the vehicles being utilized by the politician are the Internet as well as advertisements on radio, print and television.
With his new campaign, Steele hopes to hopes to dispel talk of the Republican Party becoming “too regionalized” and move past defeats in states like Virginia and North Carolina and concerns that his party needs to “reach beyond our comfort zones.”
Steele’s plan comes as a new challenge for the former Maryland lieutenant governor, who be came the first African-American chairman of the 168-member RNC after defeating four opponents on January 30.
According to Steele, the solution to his current dilemma lies in the Republicans’ need to upgrade its image among attract young blacks and Hispanics.
To ensure the project has a fair chance of success, the former state Republican Party chairman is holding weekly meetings with House and Senate republicans to explore what the Times labeled as “strategy, message, policy and tactics.”
“It will be avant garde, technically,” he said. “It will come to table with things that will surprise everyone – off the hook.”
During the presidential election of 2008, a number of rappers and organizations hit the road to campaign on behalf of the future president, including The Hip-Hop Caucus, T.I., Young Jeezy, Nas, Common and Jay-Z, who gave a performance during Obama’s official inauguration event.
“We missed the mark in the past, which is why we are in the crapper now,” Steele said. “We had the White House, the Senate and the House and were not building a farm team over the last years…”
