NOW's David Brancaccio talked with Christine Todd Whitman about the future of the Republican Party and the role of moderates in the party. Whitman has just published a book about the GOP -- IT’S MY PARTY, TOO.

BRANCACCIO: The Republicans have it all. They have the House, they have the Senate, they have the White House. Perhaps even the Supreme Court. From their perspective, it ain't broke. So what would ever bring the Republican party back to its moderate side?

CHRISTINE TODD WHITMAN: Well, even as Paul Weyrich, who is a very conservative grass-roots activist, said not too long ago, "The Republicans have been winning since '94. But the majorities, the pluralities have been very small." And if you they lose any part of that, they can lose that winning coalition. And we are in danger of losing part of it.

This last election was the smallest plurality of any incumbent president ever returned to office. George Bush beat John Kerry by 2.5 percentage points. Bill Clinton won by eight. Ronald Reagan by 18 percent. Richard Nixon by 23. And Truman beat Dewey. Truman who was declared it was over by the time the polls closed in 1948, beat Dewey by almost five percentage points.

So I don't say this to take away from the president's victory 'cause it is the first time since FDR that an incumbent president has brought in additional members of his own party in the House and Senate. But it's a very small plurality. And that means he wouldn't be there without moderates. I mean, you look at last year. Up until August, the re-election campaign had spent some $200 million. And yet the polls were dead even between the president and John Kerry.

Could not get more than within the margin of error. We come to the convention. The primetime speakers are Rudy Guiliani, George Pataki, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Moderates all. John McCain. And he comes out of that with an 11 point lead. The largest bounce he had in the entire campaign.

The lesson to all of us is that moderates were important. Without the moderates in the Senate and the House, we wouldn't have control.