Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) declared on Thursday that the GOP has gotten its "groove back" and is ready to reverse "the damage Democrats have done" with a strong showing in the November elections.
Speaking at the 2010 Young Republican Leadership Conference in Washington, McConnell argued that the GOP is a resurgent party poised to combat what he portrayed as a year-and-a-half of federal excess and expansion.
"On issue after issue, the administration's solutions to our problems have only made our problems worse. And yet they still crave more power, more of your tax dollars, more responsibility," McConnell said. "Well, Americans are tired of politicians who promise one thing and deliver another."
Republicans may have a difficult task convincing voters that they are the more competent party, however. In a recent Washington Post poll, 32 percent of Americans said they had a "great deal" or a "good amount" of confidence in Congressional Democrats to make the right decisions for the country, while only 26 percent said the same of Republicans.
But the stakes are too high for that to put a damper on the Republican message.
Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio) spoke later in the day at Young Republican luncheon and said that the GOP must take back the House in November.
"These opportunities come along once in a generation," LaTourette said. If the current anger and enthusiasm doesn't lead to a victory in November, he added, "we're in trouble."
"We can change how the rest of the president's term goes," LaTourette continued, highlighting the huge impact that the midterms will have on Obama's 2012 re-election campaign. Taking control of the House in November, he said, would allow Republicans to "control the damage" and "bring balance back to the country."
Newly-minted Rep. Charles Djou (R-Hawaii) also spoke about the dire need for Republicans to win back control of at least one of the chambers of Congress.
If Democrats retain majority status in both chambers in 2010, Djou warned, they will take it as a "green light to take over further sectors of our economy."