GOP chairman Esser must think suburban

No political party would be happy with the losses Republicans sustained in state legislative contests last year — six in the Senate, seven in the House. One casualty was former state Sen. Luke Esser, who, as new top dog of the state Republican Party, is well-positioned to craft a turnaround.

Though he was on the wrong end of an embarrassing loss to a Republican-turned-Democrat, Sen. Rodney Tom, Chairman Esser has the personal skills and Olympia connections to help the party pick up the pieces and move forward. Focus on Olympia, he says. He's right. One-party rule requires a fair recitation of the good, the bad and the ugly.

Esser is smart enough to know it can't be all about what the party in power does or doesn't do. Republicans have to find new messages that resonate in the swing districts in the suburbs and feature solutions to everyday problems.

The GOP has to remember, too, nearly half of 10th-grade students statewide failed the Washington Assessment of Student Learning. Parents of students of all ages want to know what the state is going to do about it. Members of both parties have to be willing to spend political capital to improve education.

Esser served in the Legislature for eight years, so he knows the landscape. It is his belief — and ours — that the governor's budget is too spendy to sustain over the years. Education is the top priority.

The Democratic landslide last fall was a nationwide event. Diane Tebelius, whom Esser defeated for party chairmanship, certainly cannot be blamed for all of it. Voters are fed up with Republicans at the national and state levels for very good reasons.

But Republicans in Washington fared worse than they did elsewhere, so the challenge is to regroup and come up with a more-creative, solution-oriented message than the party has so far.