Two days after next week's election, top conservatives will gather at the Virginia weekend home of one of the movement's most prominent members to begin a conversation about their role in the GOP and how best to revive a party that may be out of power at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue next year.



The meeting will include a "who's who of conservative leaders -- economic, national security and social," said one attendee, who shared initial word of the secret session only on the basis of anonymity and with some details about the host and location redacted.



The decision to waste no time in plotting their moves in the post-Bush era reflects the widely-held view among many on the right, and elsewhere, that the GOP is heading toward major losses next week.



One of the topics of discussion will be how to fashion a "national grassroots political and policy coalition similar to the out Reagan years," said the attendee, a reference to the development of the so-called New Right apparatus following Jimmy Carter's 1976 victory and Reagan's election four years later.



"There's a sense that the Republican Party is broken, but the conservative movement is not," said this source, suggesting that it was the betrayal of some conservative principles by Bush and congressional leaders that led to the party's decline.



But, this source emphasized, the meeting will be held regardless of the outcome of the presidential race. "This is going on if McCain wins, loses or has a recount -- we're not planning for the loss of John McCain."



Either way, Sarah Palin will be a central part of discussion.



If the Arizona senator wins, the discussion will feature much talk of, "How do we work with this administration?" said the attendee, an acknowledgement that conservatives won't always have a reliable ally in the Oval Office.



Under this scenario, Palin would be seen as their conduit to power. “She would be the conservative in the White House,” is how the source put it.



Should McCain lose next Tuesday, the conversation will include who to groom as the next generation of conservative leaders – a list that will feature Palin at or near the top.



Individuals aside, the broader aim of the session is to assess where the party and movement stand after what is virtually certain to be the second consecutive election in which Democrats make gains. The post-mortem will then lead way to a focus on what role conservatives play going forward both in the GOP and the political system ahead of the 2010 midterms



Few believe that the Republican party will respond to another brutal election by following a path of moderation, but conservatives are deeply dispirited and anxious to reassert the core values they believe have not always been followed by Bush, congressional leaders and their party’s presidential nominee . Many on the right, both elites and the rank-and-file, see a rudderless party that is in dire need of new blood and old principles: small government, a robust national security and unapologetic social conservatism.



Rush Limbaugh, a powerful figure in the party whose influence has spanned years of the GOP in and out of power, gave voice to this frustration Tuesday, saying candidly that "there is no elected or political leadership in Washington or in the Republican Party that people can rally around,"



Though they’ve been unhappy for some time about the state of the party, the push by Bush, McCain and other party leaders to stem the credit crisis by bailing out Wall Street this fall represented the last straw. It will almost certainly represent one of the first major fault lines in GOP’s rebuilding process, with many in the party seizing upon the rescue as the most vivid illustration of a party gone astray.



That ‘s a topic sure to come up next week in the Virginia countryside, but also at two other post-election GOP gatherings..



The Republican Governor’s Association will convene their annual meeting the week after Election Day in Miami. The get-together will feature panels on this election and look beyond; “The GOP In Transition” is the title of one plenary session. In addition to high-profile governors like host Charlie Crist, Texas’s Rick Perry, Mississippi’s Haley Barbour and South Carolina’s Mark Sanford, other speakers will include former RNC chair Ed Gillespie, Rep. Mike Pence, Gen. Tommy Franks (Ret.), Bill Kristol, Bill Bennett, Frank Luntz and Byron York.



Later that week, South Carolina GOP chairman Katon Dawson will host a gathering of state party leaders and other conservatives in Myrtle Beach. Dawson, who is interested in becoming the next RNC chairman, said in an invitation to Republicans that the event would “"discuss the lessons learned from the 2008 campaign, what we can do better and what it will take to win in 2010.”

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