By the standards usually applied to Republican conventions, the one that concluded June 14 in Houston was about par for the course. The convention featured a few technical fights between a handful of rules curmudgeons and the party brass, which were quickly dispatched. The platform hit all the key social conservative themes, the statewide elected officials gave speeches, the leadership got re-elected comfortably, and the convention adjourned.

While it was not expressly mentioned — however — there is an undercurrent of discontent within the party that is growing, and that too was evidenced during the convention.

The challenge Republicans are facing in the days ahead is how to re-energize the base and give them reasons to get involved in politics. The convention, while avoiding short-term disaster, left the long-term work for later. Here are some key observations from the event:

The Republican convention focused much more on state policy themes than its Democratic counterpart, which was all about the presidential race. It’s easy to talk about state issues when your party controls every statewide office. Every elected official wants to highlight their accomplishments.

That said, the Democrats federalized their convention. Most of the talk from the podium was about the joys of Democratic nominee Barack Obama and the need for Democrats — particularly backers of Hillary Clinton — to step in and support him. Both presidential campaigns had banners flying behind the podium and a prominent presence at the convention.

By contrast, there were no McCain banners flying in the GOP convention hall, though many of the delegates had McCain signs that they waived. A few speakers mentioned him from the podium, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was McCain’s official surrogate. But the McCain campaign had — at best — a minor presence at the convention, leaving the impression the McCain campaign takes Texas for granted.

The Trans-Texas Corridor is not popular with the delegates. Speaking of state issues, the best applause lines for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst were when they stated their opposition to the Trans-Texas Corridor. In case the Texas Department of Transportation is still asleep, Republicans believe in private property rights.

Gov. Rick Perry gave one of his better speeches. Gov. Rick Perry gave a speech to the convention delegates that was effectively delivered and reminded the GOP base what he has in common with them. In particular, Perry highlighted his pro-life roots and the benefits to the state’s economy of the Legislature’s spending discipline in 2003.

He carefully avoided topics, such as transportation and mandating vaccines for the Human Papiloma Virus, where he disagrees with a good portion of the GOP base.

Commentators differ on how Perry’s speech went over (some said it was too long), but in the eyes of this reporter, it was one of his better days.

The party’s current leadership clearly commands support of a majority of the delegates. For all the sound and fury over the rules, Chairman Tina Benkiser showed that a majority of the delegates do support her leadership. And while her critics may question the recent behavior of the party, Benkiser has carefully paid attention to social conservatives in the party and diplomatically disagreed with some of the party’s statewide elected officials on issues like gambling and the HPV mandate where the social conservatives are strongly opposed to what state leadership is doing.

This approach is significantly different than the one employed by former chairman Susan Weddington, who seldom criticized the powers-that-be, and was one of the reasons why Benkiser enjoyed such a lop-sided re-election victory.

The convention provided a good showcase for the statewide officials and party officials did work to get folks involved in campaigns. Many of the statewide elected officials got good floor-time with the delegates, which is always important at party conventions. In addition GOP Senate candidate John Cornyn was featured prominently at the convention.

The party is trying to branch out into new media, but it is still behind the Democrats. Thanks in large part to an effort by Americans for Prosperity (co-sponsored by LSR), bloggers had a booth at the convention. That said, the Democrats had wireless internet free in the convention hall and a press filing room. The convention hall in Houston charged a substantial amount for Internet access. The GOP may wish to consider at least matching the Democrats on wireless internet as they work to develop a larger online presence.

The party really needs to reconsider how it deals with internal dissent over the party’s operations. Yes, sometimes a little leadership is required to avoid chaos. And yes, some supporters of Ron Paul seem to relish discord.

But the minority in the GOP is becoming a little more numerous and a bit more vocal. When a county chairman (albeit from a small rural county) actually goes to the trouble of filing a lawsuit against the party over the way the convention is run, that speaks volumes — even though the lawsuit was thrown out. Additionally, Corpus Christi Republicans successfully sued their county chair to get copies of the minutes from the precinct conventions.

The party is going to have to figure out a way to involve some of Paul’s supporters constructively in its affairs. Many of the Paul people have a lot in common with other factions of the party, though they may not always realize it. Frankly, the party could use a group of conservatives who are as enthusiastic on fiscal issues as the so-called “Religious Right” is on the social front. Both matter, and both could lend balance to the party.

The party can’t afford for swing-district Paul supporters to cast protest votes for libertarians or not show up at all. Yet, mending the rifts that widened at this convention will be easier said than done. For one thing, many of the Paul people don’t know what they want to do with the party apparatus if they ever get a hold of it.

For the past ten years or so, the GOP leadership has succumbed to the natural human temptation to crush one’s opponents because one can. That approach may be legal, but it’s not always wise. Eventually, being too heavy-handed can backfire.

A perfect example of the party’s heavy-handedness occurred at several of the convention’s committee hearings, most notably the rules committee. The committee passed a rule banning any audio or video recordings of the meetings. This rule accomplished absolutely nothing positive for the party and made the leadership look like it had something to hide.

The Texas Open Meetings Act requires all of the party’s local elected officials (and state agency board members) to allow tape recordings, both public and private, at their meetings. And though many legal experts believe the party isn’t subject to the act, why is something that’s good for the party’s elected officials not good for the party itself? The party rules govern items such as the conduct of the taxpayer-funded primary and the allocation of delegates to the GOP national convention, neither of which is a purely private matter.

 (In all fairness, GOP spokesman Hans Klingler, in repsonse to a question from LSR, noted that the party has placed this policy under review for future conventions and unlike some of his predecessors, Klingler handled LSR’s rather pointed question on the topic politely and respectfully.)

A key homework assignment for next time — the party needs to figure out how to avoid letting internal divisions destroy a convention, but at the same time needs to settle internal disputes in a way that makes the vast majority of convention delegates feel like they got fair treatment, as most Paul people left the convention miffed.

The party has made progress in this area under Benkiser and that progress needs to continue.

The Democratic convention featured a lot of new delegates who are excited to be Democrats. Many in the press are trying to spin this into a new resurgence for the Democratic party in Texas.

That’s a bit of a stretch. In 2006, Democrats didn’t even come close to taking a statewide office, though what happened in Dallas County should concern Republicans. Some want to interpret the national mood as foreshadowing local problems for Republicans, but in 1996 — a good year nationally for Democrats — the GOP did quite well in Texas. House races are still very local, and the Democrats have already substantially out-performed the 2001 map. When examined on a race-by-race basis, the overall picture doesn’t look as bad for the GOP as the press might think.

That said, the enthusiasm of Democrats (along with new entrants to their ranks) combined with discontent from many grassroots Republicans is appropriately concerning GOP leaders.

The key message that should come from the state convention — Republicans have a lot of work to do between now and November.

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