Here is my piece today on Republicans' push to rebrand the party and campaign against the Democrats' energy plan:

Facing a growing image problem, a 78-seat deficit in the House of Representatives and soon to be on the short end of a filibuster proof majority in the Senate, Republicans set out this week to try and recast the Grand Old Party with voters by focusing on an issue Democrats have yet to build consensus around.

"Our brand has been tarnished," House Minority Leader John Boehner (Ohio) said Thursday during his weekly press conference. "We've been in a difficult position having lost a lot of seats in the 2006 election cycle, a lot of seats in the 2008 election cycle, and our candidate for president didn't do nearly as well as we all would have liked."

Two new organizations have sprung up from the House Republican Conference to remedy the situation: the National Council for a New America and the American Energy Solutions Group. The NCNA, led by Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va.), and the AESG, chaired by Conference Chairman Mike Pence (Ind.), are taking the show on the road, holding "conversations" with Americans around the country. They say the best solutions come from the people, not the leaders, and these efforts will provide a direct channel between the two.

You can read the rest here.