Family Life

01.29.10 | FL News Team

The Republican National Committee wraps up its three-day winter meeting in Honolulu today. One of the biggest items on the agenda is a vote on a proposal that would require all GOP candidates to adhere to the Republican Party's platform and agree with its positions on key issues before they can get the party's endorsement. A resolutions committee approved the proposal yesterday as a relaxed alternative to a proposed conservative "purity test." The so-called "Reagan Resolution" would have required candidates to agree with the party line on key issues including gun control, abortion and gay marriage. Some RNC members have said a purity test might alienate a large number of moderate Republicans and independents.

 More than 100 RNC members are hammering out the GOP's plans for the new year at the Hilton Hawaiian Village on Honolulu's luxurious Waikiki Beach. Critics have slammed the Republican leaders for choosing to meet at such a swanky destination when many Americans are still feeling the sting of the recession. RNC Chairman Michael Steele defended the choice yesterday, saying Honolulu was chosen specifically because of President Obama. Steele said, quote, "We're in Obama's birthplace; this is his backyard, and I wanted to make sure that everyone across the country knew that this party was going to compete on every inch of soil in this nation." Obama carried Hawaii with 72 percent of the vote in the 2008 presidential election.