A group of high-profile social conservatives warned Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus in a letter this week that their supporters could abandon the GOP if the party seeks to change its position on social issues, particularly same-sex marriage. 

Thirteen social conservatives, representing various influential groups, wrote Priebus ahead of the RNC's quarterly meeting this week in Los Angeles to sternly rebuke the conclusions of a post-election report that advised Republican elected officials to adopt a softer tone toward social issues. 

"We respectfully warn GOP Leadership that an abandonment of its principles will necessarily result in the abandonment of our constituents to their support," concludes the letter, which was obtained by and independently verified by NBC News in advance of the meeting this week. 

The letter further asks GOP committeemen to pass a resolution at their meeting this week re-affirming the party's 2012 national platform, which includes language calling for bans on abortion and same-sex marriage.

"Chairman Priebus agrees that we must stand up for our conservative principles while we work together to grow our party and win elections and has been traveling the country with that message," said Kirsten Kukowski, an RNC spokeswoman. Furthermore, she said that a resolution re-affirming the platform was currently being drafted, and would likely win approval from the full RNC this Friday.

The Growth and Opportunity Project report, commissioned by Priebus in the wake of Republicans' losses in last fall's elections, offered a number of recommendations for the party to broaden its appeal and be more competitive in future national elections. 

Among its recommendations were that Republican officials speak with a more welcoming tone on social issues, particularly abortion rights and gay rights, the latter of which the report said had become a "gateway" for whether young voters decide whether to identify as Republicans. 

To that end, several high-profile Republicans have emerged in recent weeks (along with a slew of elected Democrats) to back marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples, including Sens. Rob Portman, Ohio, and Mark Kirk, Ill.

Much of the conservatives' letter to Priebus stresses the issue of gay rights, and challenges the logic of the Growth and Opportunity Project's advice to broaden the party's appeal. Holding the line against same-sex marriage, the letter argues, would allow Republicans to make better inroads, for instance, into more traditionally-minded corners of the African American community. 

"It is the faith-based community which offers Republicans their best hope of expanding their support in these groups," the signatories wrote. "Going 'vanilla' or even changing long held positions would quickly end this opportunity."

The conservatives additionally expressed their anger at what they said was an insinuation that they had treated gays and lesbians unkindly. 

"The fact that the party is strongly committed to traditional marriage has not prevented their involvement through GOProud or Log Cabin Republicans," they wrote. "We deeply resent the insinuation that we have treated homosexuals unkindly personally."

The letter speaks to the difficulties Republican leaders face in their efforts to broaden the GOP's appeal. While party leaders have spoken, for instance, about the need to pass comprehensive immigration reform to appeal to the increasingly important Latino electorate, there are corners of the conservative establishment which harbor deep resistance to reform.

“This letter makes it perfectly clear that the GOP is caught between a rock and hard place. For decades, they’ve made a devil’s bargain with the Religious Right, and now they’re finding that they can’t reach out to moderate voters without totally alienating the base," said Michael Keegan, the president of People for the American Way, about the GOP's struggles. “There’s no question that continuing to pander to the Religious Right is a recipe for becoming a permanent minority party. We’ll see this week if the RNC is ready to contemplate making some tough changes or if they’re just going to keep drifting towards irrelevance.”

The same is generally true for leaders who have called for a more inclusive tone on social issues. Republican leaders are quick to note the missteps of Senate candidates Todd Akin in Missouri and Richard Mourdock in Indiana, and how their comments about rape and abortion both cost them each a chance at a Senate seat, and weighed nationally upon Republicans.

In response, social conservatives have begun to flex their muscle within the GOP to assert their relevance as a major part of the modern GOP's foundation. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who became a darling among social conservatives during his 2008 presidential campaign, has also warned social conservatives could abandon the Republican establishment. He told Newsmax magazine that if the GOP shifts its position on same-sex marriage, "they're going to lose a large part of their base because evangelicals will take a walk."

The signatories to this week's letter were:

• Gary Bauer, President, American Values
• Paul Caprio, Director, Family-Pac Federal
• Marjorie Dannenfelser, President, Susan B. Anthony List
• Dr. James Dobson, President and Founder, Family Talk Action
• Andrea Lafferty, President, Traditional Values Coalition
• Tom Minnery, Executive Director, CitizenLink
• William J. Murray, Chairman, Religious Freedom Coalition
• Tony Perkins, President, Family Research Council
• Sandy Rios, VP of Government Affairs, Family-Pac Federal
• Austin Ruse, President, Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute
• Phyllis Schlafly, President, Eagle Forum
• Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, Founder, Traditional Values Coalition
• Tim Wildmon, President, American Family Association

The Republican National Committee released an audacious set of recommendations on Monday aimed at revitalizing the party following the drubbing suffered by GOP candidates last November, calling for sweeping changes to the party's infrastructure, outreach and nominating process to contend for the White House in 2016.

The RNC's 100-page report, the "Growth and Opportunity Project," is the election autopsy ordered by Chairman Reince Priebus last fall.

Culled from more than 52,000 contacts with voters, party consultants and elected officials, it calls for drastic changes to almost every major element of the modern Republican Party.

"When Republicans lost in November, it was a wake-up call. And in response I initiated the most public and most comprehensive post-election review in the history of any national party," Priebus said Monday morning at the National Press Club. "As it makes clear, there’s no one reason we lost. Our message was weak; our ground game was insufficient; we weren’t inclusive; we were behind in both data and digital; our primary and debate process needed improvement."

In essence, the report argues for a more data-driven Republican Party in which the RNC assumes increased authority for party-building efforts.

The report calls for increased outreach to women, young voters and minorities — especially Hispanics. The document acknowledges the GOP’s policy on immigration has become a “litmus test” for what will be a key constituency necessary for the party’s success in the next four years and beyond.

"We are not a policy committee, but among the steps Republicans take in the Hispanic community and beyond, we must embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform," the report says, nodding at other points to the bipartisan reform efforts currently before Congress. "If we do not, our Party’s appeal will continue to shrink to its core constituencies only."

The report also notes a growing generational divide on the issue of gay rights, calling the issue a "gateway" for young voters deciding whether to align with the GOP.

"We can't grow the party by division and subtraction," Priebus said during a question-and-answer session at the press club. "We can only build it by addition and multiplication."

But the report is hardly focused on social issues alone. Its top recurring theme arguably involves building a robust Republican data infrastructure, and applying a commitment to testing and analysis of almost every operation of the RNC.

Priebus is advised to hire a chief technology officer and digital officer by the end of April, and give them wide latitude to inform aspects of the party from fundraising to media strategy and messaging and beyond.

"Those teams will work together to integrate their respective areas throughout the RNC and provide a data-driven focus for the rest of the organization," Priebus said. "And they will be the new center of gravity within the organization."

The GOP's digital revamp — as with most of the other elements of the report — was prompted by the Obama campaign's far more sophisticated operation in 2012.

Handout / Getty Images

Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Reince Priebus, appears on ''Face the Nation'' on March 17, 2013 in Washington, D.C.

Many of the reforms proposed by the Growth and Opportunity Project, however, will encounter stiff resistance in corners of the Republican Party and broader conservative movement — because of a deep distrust of the official GOP among the grassroots. 

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin encapsulated the sentiment during her speech on Saturday before the Conservative Political Action Conference. 

"Now is the time to furlough the consultants, and tune out the pollsters, send the focus groups home, and toss the political scripts," she said, "because if we truly know what we believe, we don't need professionals to tell us."

And some of the report's declarations are sure to ruffle feathers on the Right.

The report says bluntly at one point that "third-party groups that promote purity are hurting our electoral prospects," an indirect reference to groups like the Club for Growth, which has promoted challenges to Republicans regarded as more electable who are accused of transgressing against conservative principle.

A spokesman for the Club for Growth had no comment about the report, and Ari Fleischer, one of the leaders of the GOP project, argued that success would involve overcoming resistance from fellow Republicans.

"Successful parties learn and grow, and you do the best learning after you lose," he said at a press conference Monday morning.

The report also calls super PACs a "wild card" that threaten to weaken an eventual nominee due to the onslaught of negative advertising during primaries. (2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney suffered from this type of friendly fire during his slog to the nomination.)

The report calls for broader changes to the Republican primary system, too, especially as it relates to picking a presidential candidate. It calls for prohibiting primary debates before Sept. 1, 2015, and limiting the total number of debates to 10 or 12 -- and possibly docking delegates from candidates who ignore the rules.

The report also calls for holding the Republican National Convention in late June or July, necessitating that the primary process concludes between late April and mid-May. 

To accomplish that, the Growth and Opportunity Project recommends for a major — and likely contentious — overhaul to the primary calendar in which groups of states in a similar region would vote on the same date. The so-called "regional primary system" would follow traditional nominating contests in states like Iowa and New Hampshire, for which there would be an exception. 

Furthermore, the report recommends that Republicans ditch caucuses and conventions — venues in which conservative activists traditionally dominate — in favor of primaries for picking a nominee.

Among the report's assorted other recommendations:

• Establish a new "Growth and Opportunity Inclusion Council" tasked with reaching out to Hispanics, African Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders, Native Americans and other minority communities;
• Commit an initial $10 million to improving outreach to minority communities;
• Set up an "RNC Celebrity Task Force of personalities in the entertainment industry" to attract young voters, and encourage Republican leaders to "participate in and actively prepare for interviews" on the Daily Show, the Colbert Report and other media aimed toward younger Americans;
• Place a greater emphasis on early voting in political strategy, messaging and budgeting;
• Invest in full-time field staff in states beginning at a much earlier point in election cycles;
• Convene a quarterly summit of Republican pollsters, ensure an accurate model of likely voters and turnout for polling, and recommend that GOP polls include a 25 percent subsample of respondents who can be reached by cell phone only;
• Explore making more efficient television advertising purchases, including possibly shifting resources away from paid media and toward organizational efforts and alternative methods of voter contact;
• Work with outside conservative groups (to the extent that it's legal) to better define different organizations' responsibilities;
• Encourage a well-funded conservative group (akin to Democrats' group, American Bridge) dedicated to full-time tracking and research of Democratic candidates;
• Expand the RNC's low-dollar fundraising program, and seek more efficient finance staffing;
• "Convince Congress to remove the biennial aggregate contribution limits," or, absent that, seek to increase the contribution limits for federal campaigns;
• Abolish the public financing system for presidential campaigns, including the matching funds program;
• Replace taxpayer funding of national party conventions with a system in which party committees could raise additional funds for the conventions;
• Allow party committees to raise additional funds to support the maintenance of their buildings and facilities.

This story was originally published on Mon Mar 18, 2013 6:58 AM EDT

Republicans will embark upon a major restructuring of their digital strategy as part of the Republican National Committee's new autopsy of the 2012 elections, NBC News has learned. 

When the RNC on Monday releases the findings of its "Growth and Opportunity Project" — the report ordered by Chairman Reince Priebus on the party's losses in the 2012 campaign — it will emphasize closing the GOP's widely-reported technological gap versus Democrats.

RNC chief of staff Mike Shields, whom Priebus recently hired to help shepherd the RNC's modernization, said he is working on "fundamentally restructuring the way the RNC works so it is centered around the technology department."

Shields said that the release of the RNC's report on Monday "kicks off the 2016 election cycle," pledging an unprecedented commitment to data and technology.

Republicans have repeatedly and openly talked since the election about their data disadvantage versus the Obama campaign. The president's re-election team's sophisticated, cutting-edge digital operation has been robustly chronicled since the election, and credited with helping propel Obama to a second term. 

Shields was reluctant to divulge any specifics of the RNC's new commitment to digital efforts, but said it would be far broader than any simple social media campaign. The RNC also intends to take its new tech operation on the road, to showcase the party's new capabilities for state parties, campaigns and activists.

"By first combining digital, data and tech, you are creating synergy in all of those areas based upon what data you are creating and what it tells you about voters," he said. "But further, by putting that entire department at the center of the organization, you are making your fundraising pitches better and your voter contact much better to ultimately help you win elections."

Republicans' new emphasis was spurred, in part, by Priebus's own meetings with various factions of the party across the country since the election to hear out concerns. To that end, he recently went to Silicon Valley and met with Facebook in order to deal with a recurrent theme he was hearing — that the Republican party was not technically on par with their Democratic counterparts.  

RNC spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski belied that holding a digital team in such high esteem was a rarity in the party, even during Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. 

"The digital campaign was not intergrated into daily decisions," said Kukowski. "But the digital department is not just in some basement anymore."

Updated 4:40 p.m. — CHARLOTTE, N.C.  — After being easily re-elected to head the Republican National Committee for another term, Chairman Reince Priebus urged his party to leave behind traditional notions of which states are winnable for the party.

"At the RNC we are dropping ‘red’ and ‘blue’ analysis," he said in remarks shortly after being elected almost unanimously. "We must be a party concerned about every American in every neighborhood."

The chairman called for more outreach to minority communities, a greater focus on digital outreach and jettisoning the party's image as obstructionist.

"We will be a Republican Party that people will want to join," he said of the next presidential election. "A party that inspires again. Not a party that just says 'no'…but a party that says “follow us to a brighter future.”

For Priebus, that future could include an embrace of the plans of some GOP-led state legislatures who hope to reapportion their electoral votes by congressional district rather than the winner-take-all system currently espoused by almost all the states.

"I think it's a state issue but personally I'm pretty intrigued by it," Priebus told reporters after his election.

The idea of changing the electoral vote apportionment — which would reflect the concentrated political sensitivities of carefully drawn congressional districts — has prompted outcry from Democrats who accuse the GOP of changing the rules of a game they proved unable to win in 2008 and 2012.

And not all Republicans are crazy about the idea.

In a statement, a spokesman for Republican VIrginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said he doesn't back the legislation.  "He believes Virginia's existing system works just fine as it is. He does not  believe there is any need for a change," said McDonnell spokesman Tucker Martin.

Priebus disputed the notion that a reapportionment would run counter to the idea that Republicans should compete in "every neighborhood."

"It's a state issue," he said. "State legislatures decide it, governors decide it, but as far as our presence in those states — you still have to compete" 

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Gov. Bobby Jindal, often discussed as a potential 2016 presidential candidate, said Thursday that any GOP hopeful already talking about a run in four years should consider a visit to a neurologist.

"Any Republican that's thinking about talking about running for president is 2016 needs to get his head examined," he told reporters after an address to the Republican National Committee's Winter Meeting in Charlotte. "We've got a lot of work to do. We've got to get the Republican Party back on track."

Jindal's comments came after he delivered the keynote speech to the RNC's post-election meeting Thursday night. In his remarks, the Louisiana governor bluntly recommended that the GOP "stop being the stupid party."

"It's time for a new Republican party that talks like adults," he said. "It's time for us to articulate our plans and visions for America in real terms. We had a number of Republicans damage the brand this year with offensive and bizarre comments. We’ve had enough of that." 

Another high-profile GOP governor, Bob McDonnell of Virginia, will address the RNC meeting tomorrow afternoon. 

BOSTON -- Mitt Romney's campaign and its fundraising allies announced Sunday they had brought in $111.6 million dollars last month, making August the most lucrative fundraising month yet for the GOP nominee and the third straight month Team Romney has raised more than $100 million dollars.

In a press release, the campaign said it now has $168.5 million in cash-on-hand between the Romney campaign, the Republican National Committee and the state parties which combine to make up the so-called "Romney Victory" fund. The Obama re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee raised more than $114 million in August, campaign manager Jim Messina said early Monday morning, Reuters reported. 

 The Romney campaign said 94% of the donations they received in August came from donors who gave less than $250 dollars apiece, for a total of $34.6 million dollars, and that donations came from all 50 states the District of Columbia.

On August 10th, Romney announced the selection of Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate, and the campaign touted the subsequent spike in online giving for days after the selection as a sign of increased grassroots support for the Republican effort.

A joint statement from Romney national finance chairman Spencer Zwick and RNC chairman Reince Priebus used the fundraising totals to continue to push the campaign's latest motivating question, meant to undermine support for President Obama: Are voters better off today than they were four years ago?

“Americans are not better off than they were four years ago and they are looking for a change of leadership. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are offering bold solutions to our country’s problems – that is why we are seeing such tremendous support from donors across the country," Zwick and Priebus said.

TAMPA, Fla. – Republican elders said Sunday that this week’s Republican National Convention here in Florida offered Mitt Romney an opportunity to re-introduce himself to voters heading into the height of the fall campaign season.

As GOP heavyweights gather in Florida for a hurricane-shortened convention, some of the party’s most influential voices laid out on “Meet the Press” the stakes for Romney.

The convention offered Romney a chance “to reconnect with people,” said former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) of the forthcoming convention.

Convention organizers canceled Monday’s activities due to safety concerns associated with an impending hurricane, leaving Romney and the GOP with one less day to drive its message about what they charge are the failures of President Barack Obama, particularly when it comes to matters of the economy.

But Republicans also acknowledged that Romney must use this national platform to reverse some of the damage done to his personal reputation over the summer. The Obama campaign and Democratic super PACs have spent tens of millions of dollars on television ads in key swing states taking aim at Romney’s private sector career, personal wealth and handling of issues important to women.

Related: McCain: Further delays to GOP convention 'could be harmful'

Exacerbating problems for the Republican brand has been this past week’s uproar over Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin’s (R) comments about “legitimate rape.” Republicans have sharply distanced themselves from the conservative congressman’s remarks, while Democrats have sought to link those sentiments with Romney and the Republican Party as a whole.

“I'm surprised that we, the Romney-Ryan ticket, are neck and neck in the polls right now particularly with some of the setbacks we have experienced,” said Arizona Sen. John McCain, the GOP’s 2008 presidential nominee.

Jewel Samad / AFP - Getty Images

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his wife Ann arrive at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, to attend Sunday services on August 26, 2012.

Recommended: Hurricane impending, Republicans cancel first day of convention

Convention organizers have laid out a daily theme here in Tampa meant to soften Romney’s public image and offer greater insight into his family and charitable work, among other personal details. The convention also revolves heavily around leveling an indictment of Obama’s economic policy during the last four years.

It’s a high-stakes act for Romney; the conventions are regarded as one of the few opportunities to sway undecided voters, whose numbers are dwindling in this especially competitive election.

“This is the big Etch A Sketch moment for Mitt Romney,” Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, said Sunday of the impending Republican festivities.

But there are also long-term stakes for Republicans this week in Tampa, particularly as it relates to closing the gap among women and Hispanic voters, with whom Obama enjoys a healthy advantage over Romney in the polls.

“My personal view is that we need to move beyond where we are,” Bush said of the current Republican rhetoric on immigration. He said that, on immigration, Republicans must change “not necessarily the core of our beliefs but the tone of our message and the intensity of it.”

But Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R), the chief proponent of a tough immigration law in her home state, said Republicans must emphasize “the rule of law.”

She added: “Certainly those kinds of issues are going to have to be discussed moving on into the future.”

Related: Jeb Bush on White House run: 'I'm not there yet in my life'

But Republicans overall stressed the primacy of the economy this election cycle, the issue on which Romney has an advantage over Obama in most polls.

“I think Mitt wins when it's about these big things,” Bush said. “When it's about the constant distractions, it'll be a very, very close race.”

MONROE, LA – Newt Gingrich faces a significant hurdle in his strategy of winning the GOP presidential nomination at the party’s August convention, lengthening the already-long odds of him becoming the Republican nominee.
 
The former House speaker is already struggling to stay afloat financially; he finished behind Texas Rep. Ron Paul in last night’s Illinois primary, even though Paul barely campaigned in the state.
 
Nonetheless, Gingrich has vowed to press his candidacy all the way through the Republican National Convention this August in Tampa, Fla. His strategy hinges on the assumption that Romney will fail to win the 1,144 delegates needed to secure the nomination, prompting a contested convention in which Gingrich could emerge as conservatives’ consensus choice.
 
But an RNC rule stipulating that candidates seeking the nomination must have won a plurality of votes in at least five states could complicate Gingrich’s already far-fetched strategy. RNC rule No. 40 states:

Nominations(b) Each candidate for nomination for President of the United States and Vice President of the United States shall demonstrate the support of a plurality of the delegates from each of five (5) or more states, severally, prior to the presentation of the name of that candidate for nomination. 

RNC Chairman Reince Preibus issued a stern warning to the candidates to that end this morning on the Daily Rundown.
 
“It's an important rule,” he said. “So when these candidates are adding up their delegates or when people out there have a particular issue that they would like to move at the convention, they had better make sure they at least have a plurality of five states to make these things happen.”
 
Gingrich, of course, has only won two primaries – first, South Carolina, and second, Georgia, the state he had represented in Congress. (Paul finds himself in a similar situation, having won delegates, but no caucuses or primaries.)
 
“Obviously we need to win some more states,” said a source close to the Gingrich campaign, acknowledging that they need to win at least three more states before the August convention. “I don’t think he [Gingrich] would be doing this if he didn’t think there was a road to winning.”
 
There is a caveat that could allow Gingrich to slip through. RNC press secretary Kirsten Kukowski told NBC News that a candidate may still be nominated at the convention if they are able to garner a plurality of five states on the floor. The only real road toward accomplishing that would involve capturing unbound delegates, who will be few and far between come August.
 
While this scenario remains possible, the likelihood of it actually happening seems slim.
 
If no GOP candidate reaches the 1,144 delegates needed to seal the nomination by the Tampa convention, it would open the possibility that all four remaining candidates would participate in a floor fight.
 
“The purpose of the primary season is to vet your candidate. The purpose of the convention is to pick your candidate,” the Gingrich source says. “The longer we stay in this race, the longer people are going to contrast and compare and then you get to the convention and then, we will have this big debate on who our nominee needs to be.”
 
But if Gingrich cannot win five states – or even if he does win just five – he would still face a perception problem come convention time. With 56 states and territories in play, it would be difficult for the winner of just a handful of those contests to make the case that he deserves the nomination.
 
“To change history, the primaries, in your favor is exceedingly difficult and almost unrealistic,” said Doug Heye, the former RNC communications director turned political consultant. “For a lot of folks, the perception that Gingrich cannot win is already there and you’ve seen it state after state as Gingrich has been left out of the conversation.”
 
RNC rule No. 40, Heye noted, basically codifies the notion that Gingrich no longer faces a viable path to the nomination.
 
“I fully expect that Speaker Gingrich will be in Tampa this summer but not as a viable candidate for President of the United States,” he said.

AP

Former RNC Chairman Michael Steele waves goodbye after his speech Saturday bowing out of the RNC election.

I noted earlier Hotline's piece that former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele may have bowed out, because of a deal with former Bush official Maria Cino that would have given him a salary north of $224,500 a year, the salary of the RNC chairman.

But a GOP source tells First Read there was no deal. The source explains the logic of Steele's endorsement of Cino this way:

Reince Preibus stabbed him in the back. (Priebus was the general counsel under Steele and was Steele's campaign manager for RNC chairman in 2009.)

Michigan committeeman Saul Anuzis wasn't going to win.

Former Missouri party chairwoman Ann Wagner trashed Steele during the campaign.

But Cino did not, and Steele believed she had a path to victory with his support.

The only offer, according to the source, was to continue not to trash Steele and not make him a scapegoat.