WASHINGTON – The top US Senate Republican said Tuesday his party could stage a "comeback" after heavy losses in the last two elections now that it is free of the "political burden" of George W. Bush.
"I was a strong supporter of the president, but presidential unpopularity is bad for the president's party," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told NBC television, reflecting on the party's losses in 2006 and 2008.
"We wish the president, president Bush well but frankly, we will not have to be carrying that sort of political burden that we carried the last two elections."
The Republican National Committee (RNC) is to choose its new chairman on Friday, not quite two weeks after Bush left office vastly unpopular with the US public.
"We've been here before," said McConnell. "We came back. We'll come back again. And part of what I'm going to be talking about at the RNC later this week is some suggestions about how to begin the comeback."
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