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Tavis: I am pleased to welcome Ken Mehlman back to this program. The chairman of the Republican National Committee has been crisscrossing the country of late, in effort to shore up Republican support for a number of key House and Senate races. Midterm elections just around the corner in November. He joins us tonight, though, back in Washington. Mr. Chairman, nice to have you on the program.

Ken Mehlman: Thanks for having me again. It's good to be back with you.

Tavis: Glad to have you. So what are you hearing these days as you travel around the country, about the state of the Republican Party?

Mehlman: Well, I'm hearing that the state of the party is strong. Folks are energized; they're fired up about these elections. They understand the important stakes in the November elections. I'm also hearing from folks all over the country about their commitment to help expand this party and continue to grow the party. Reaching out and bringing new faces and new voices into the party.

So obviously, our nation faces tremendous challenges. So do both political parties. But I can tell you that at the moment, as I see it, and as I travel around the country, the state and the health of the Republican Party is strong.

Tavis: Speaking of expanding the party, Ken, I wanna come back to some of these internal issues that we're reading about, of course, in the front page of all the papers with regard to your party. But before we go to that, though, to your point about expanding the party, you do have a number of key races in the coming months that feature persons of color.

I think of Ken Blackwell running for Governor in Ohio. A Black Republican. I think of Michael Steele, a Black Republican running for the Senate seat in Maryland. I think of Lynn Swann, NFL Hall of Famer, running for Governor in Pennsylvania. So, what's happening where at this moment in history you do have more people of color than in the past running for office on your ticket?

Mehlman: Well, I think it's a tremendous opportunity. You may remember back in 1992 the number of women were nominees for Senate, and they called it the year of the woman. And it inspired a lot of young women to be involved in politics. The same thing is happening this year with African Americans, and what I'm so pleased about is the majority of them are Republicans.

Michael Steele is an outstanding candidate in Maryland. Most polls show him about even in the race. A couple down or a couple up. Interestingly, there was a poll that came out this weekend that showed that Lynn Swann is now leading Ed Rendell to be the Governor of Pennsylvania. That's a huge opportunity, and it's a very promising opportunity, I think, for the people of Pennsylvania.

You mentioned Ken Blackwell. Keith Butler in Michigan, the number one vote-getter on the history of the Detroit city council. He's in a primary for United States Senate. So there really is an opportunity, in my opinion, to see significant gains in the election of African Americans. Statewide elected officials for Governor and Senate in these important states.

Tavis: One more question on that before we move on. We do know, and you obviously admit this. You've been out shaking the trees to try to change these numbers. But African Americans for years now have given their votes overwhelmingly, as we both know, to the Democratic Party. What is, in fact, the issue, or what are the issues that are starting to show the trend slowly, for the Republicans, picking up African American votes? What are the issues that are resonating with those Black voters?

Mehlman: Well, there are a couple of issues I think that are important. First of all, I think folks want a real choice when it comes to issues like education. They wanna make sure that entrepreneurship is focused on, and the President's commitment to make healthcare more affordable and available. Our party's commitment to create more small businesses.

Our willingness to reduce taxes on people. All those are things people like. There are a lot of voters that share values; that believe that faith ought to have a place in the public square; that recognize the importance of building a culture of life in this country; that believe that there needs to be strong families and communities that support them.

All of these are issues in which folks, I think increasingly, understand that the Republican Party today is not only the party that often shares their values, but shares their aspirations about where they wanna go, and wants to make sure people have the tools and the equipment they need to succeed at the American dream.

Tavis: Speaking of the Republican Party today, one of your former party leaders, Newt Gingrich, former Speaker Of The House, was on the Fox News Channel, no less, over the weekend, suggesting that he has never seen Washington one, more out of step with the American people, and number two, went on to suggest, as you know, made a lot of news here, but this comment, that if the elections were held today, he thinks that Republicans might, in fact, lose. What'd you make of that comment by the former Speaker?

Mehlman: Well, look, Newt is a good friend of mine. He's someone I talk to a lot, and he and I share ideas a lot. The elections are not today. I'm not gonna predict what they would be if they were. But I think we're in a strong position. I do think that Washington, in many ways, is out of touch with the American people.

And what Republicans have been trying to do and have been successful in doing for the last five years, and what we have to continue doing, is making sure that Washington solves the problems people care about. When George Bush was elected in 2000, one out of three White children, two out of three African American children, six out of 10 Latino children in the fourth grade couldn't read at grade level.

That's a Washington system that's not serving the people. Which is why the education reform, bipartisan reform was passed into law. And in 2005, you saw the highest scores ever for minority children. Obviously, 9/11 showed us that the defense establishment wasn't ready for the threat of terrorism. Which is why we've made the changes that we have.

And there's so many examples you can have like that. So the mission of our times, for both parties, in my judgment, is to reform this town, and reform this bureaucracy for the real problems we're gonna face in the future. 'Cause too often, it's trapped in the past.

Tavis: How's that ever happen, though, when the people who need to be reformed are in charge of reforming themselves?

Mehlman: Well, I think you saw it happen on education. You saw it happen in terms of America's defense. You saw it happen with an energy strategy. We now need to make it happen with healthcare, we need to make it happen with retirement security for folks. All of those were areas. But over the last five years, you've seen it in a number of areas.

The reason that our recession became a recovery, we've created almost five million new jobs since the plan was put into effect, was 'cause people understood that the old way of doing things, more taxes, more regulations, and more lawsuits, were causing American jobs to be outsourced. So we changed the way the tax system works, and reduced the number of regulations.

All of those are examples. Hurricane Katrina, that showed us the need to change. It showed us first that our government, federal, state, and local, didn't work together very well. And it also showed us that for 30 or 40 years, this war on poverty we've had, it's helped some folks, but there are too many people being left behind. And so let's come up with a new strategy that gives people power and tools to be successful. Not just more government bureaucracy.

Tavis: Speaking of strategy, tell me what your strategy is for dealing with the growing number of Republicans in the House and the Senate who are running away from this President. You mentioned the President, and his policies or strategies on the war on terror and certainly Iraq. We'll come back to that in just a moment.

But there was a time, clearly, when the President could get anything he wanted out of Republicans in Congress. These days, a lot of folk are running from this guy. What do you do about that? How do you deal with that, as the chairman?

Mehlman: Well, first of all, part of that is an inevitable part of what happens in a second term. What's interesting is, Tavis, that as I travel around the country, the President has done more fundraisers and more campaign activity for candidates in any time in history, more than he did in '02 at this point, more than he did in '04.

I think Republicans are - I'm proud that we're a big tent party. I'm proud that we disagree on some issues, and we have those disagreements in public. I think at the end of the day, though, we come together as a party. We try to reach out to some discerning Democrats and some Independents, and we lay out our vision.

And I think what we've gotta do is focus on the principles where we agree, and we focus on building a consensus behind the issues. And that's what I try to do as chairman.

Tavis: But see, what you've just said now sounds to me like the Democratic Party. (Laugh) I would expect that line to have come at me from Howard Dean, trying to keep a fractured party from being altogether truncated in the advance of an election. That's the Democratic problem (unintelligible) have.

You Republicans are supposed to be on the same page at the same time. Ronald Reagan's eleventh commandment, never speak ill of another Republican. And yet, I see former Governor and former EPA administrator, former Bush administration official Christie Todd-Whitman and others who are out on the (word?) talking about the fact that they fear that in advance of '06 and '08, the party has been hijacked by the conservatives, the right wing conservatives of this party, the Christian conservatives in this party, and that there is no longer any room under this umbrella party for moderates.

Mehlman: I would disagree with Governor Whitman. I think she did a good job as EPA administrator, I think she's wrong on that issue. I have to tell you, Tavis, I've been called a lot of things; I've never been compared to Howard Dean before. (Laugh)

Tavis: (Laugh) First time for everything.

Mehlman: Exactly. But look, here's the point. The point is, Republicans agree on strategy. For instance, in the war on terror, we agree it's important to go after the enemy. We agree it's important to have the surveillance necessary to find the enemy here at home. We agree that it was important to have the Patriot Act to make the federal and the state and the local governments talk to each other.

The fact that within those strategies, where there's a broad agreement, there are divergence over tactics, makes us stronger. It makes us smarter. It makes us better. We agree we've gotta be pro-growth. There's some folks who say, the way you're pro-growth is to have a national sales tax. Others say, have a national flat tax.

Other folks say, the current tax structure is good, but let's make those tax cuts permanent. Again, disagreement on tactics, agree on philosophy. We're the party of Reagan and the party of George W. Bush, which is a party that is conservative and compassionate in our philosophy. But do we disagree about tactics?

Absolutely, and we're stronger for it. Because that discussion, and some might even call it dissent, has the effect of making us all think about what we're doing, which makes our system and our party healthier.

Tavis: Dissent, perfect word, perfect segue for this next topic I wanna raise. How do you deal with the dissent on immigration, and even you can't convince me that the party is together on the issue of immigration. Everybody knows that's not the case.

Mehlman: Right. The party is divided on immigration. What I think we've gotta do, and I've said this publicly, is focus on what are our key principles. It seems to me the politics of and work in this case. We're a nation of laws, and we're a nation of immigrants. And we need to make sure that we enforce our borders, because September eleventh, we learned that whether you were in this country for five generations or five days, your life was at risk.

And if we don't know who's coming into our country with the time where we're at war, no one's safe. We've also gotta protect taxpayers who, it's not fair to ask some folks to pay the cost of schools and the cost of roads that other people are doing. At the same time, America is America because we're a nation of immigrants.

The new ideas, the new energy, the fresh focus that folks bring when they move to this country, makes us a very special and unique nation. And we've gotta make sure as we do this, we remember that we've gotta be pro-immigrant. We've gotta be a nation that honors our immigrant heritage, and an immigrant future.

Because that's what makes America. If you think about it, think of all the folks overseas serving in the military who are from other places. Think about the fact that our economy benefits from the influx of new blood and new ideas and new energy. Think about the fact that our culture is richer and stronger because we constantly welcome in new people.

It's like a river where new streams come in and make the river stronger the whole way. So we've gotta make sure we remain a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants. And anyone that says the law is not important, I think they're wrong. And anyone who says the immigrants are a problem, I think they're wrong. We need to have a legal system so we know who's coming into this country.

Tavis: That was a great answer, Chairman Mehlman. The only problem is, you ain't running for the White House. (Laugh) So the question is, how much is your party gonna...

Mehlman: I could make some news on this show if I wanted to.

Tavis: Indeed you could. You wanna tell me something? Here's your opportunity.

Mehlman: Look, George Herbert Walker Bush, Bob Dole, we have, there's a little history here.

Tavis: All right, but here's the deal, though. Here's the deal. What you've just said, I suspect people could embrace that answer. But seriously, since you're not the guy running, how much are you guys gonna cost yourselves on the Latino vote with this fractured strategy?

Mehlman: Well, I think, look, it depends what we ultimately do. You got the chairman of the party here. You got the President of the United States, who's the leader of the party. And you got most Republicans I talk to who are pro-immigrant. Who recognize immigrants are a huge benefit to this country. Who recognize America's immigrant past and immigrant future.

And so I think that there's gonna be a big debate, and there's a lot of debate in Washington. And at the end of the day, we've gotta be a party that continues to reach out to Latinos and to others and say, welcome to our party. Ronald Reagan in 1979 famously said that Hispanics are Republicans; they just don't know it yet. (Laugh)

And in 2004, more than three million new Hispanics discovered that they were Republicans than they had in 2000. And it's because this President talks common sense. It's 'cause of the education initiatives. It's 'cause of our commitment to strong families and free enterprise. And it's because we recognize that we clearly have to fix the system and control the borders. But we've gotta do it in a way that is compassionate, and a way that recognizes family values don't stop at the Rio Grande.

Tavis: So many more issues that we did not get to. Thankfully, you always say yes when I invite you on. So I suspect we'll do it again sometime.

Mehlman: I'll keep doing it, thanks.

Tavis: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Glad to have you on the program.

Mehlman: Thanks.

Tavis: Up next on this program, talented musician Van Hunt, out with a new record. We've been waiting for this. And a special performance from Van Hunt and the band in a moment. Stay with us.