Report: Small signs of GOP comeback

WASHINGTON, June 24 (UPI) -- Several recent political trends suggest reasons for optimism for the beleaguered U.S. Republican Party, the Washington publication Politico said Wednesday.

Polls are showing growing dissatisfaction with President Barack Obama's handling of the ailing economy, and while respondents also have low regard for the GOP's economic policies, Obama's slippage is significant, Politico says.

Its analysis said Republicans, looking to recover from electoral drubbings in 2006 and 2008, could stage a comeback by concentrating their attacks on areas where Obama is showing signs of weakness, combining that with distancing themselves from such unpopular Republicans as former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Dick Cheney, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and one-time House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Politico said political moderates are experiencing "sticker shock" over Obama's stimulus and healthcare packages and are concerned about the soaring deficit.

Republicans have shown an ability to band together on the issue and that, it said, could be a starting point for a GOP comeback, which would bet heavily on the failure of Democratic economic recovery efforts.

But, Republicans could easily blow it by enforcing ideological purity tests, Politico said.