(This article originally appeared in the winter 2009 print issue of CommonWealth, but it seems appropriate now in the wake of Tuesday’s election.)

TWO-PARTY GOVERNMENT

Is critical to the future of Massachusetts, but if it’s to become a reality, Republicans must do a better job of attracting more voters and viable candidates to our ranks.

During my time in the State House, a Democratic leader once confided that having a Republican governor was very valuable: It gave him a reason to say “no” to the loony left. Having a strong minority party is what leads to tough questions being asked about important policy initiatives. Also, the likelihood of competitive elections makes all representatives and senators stay focused on the best interests of their district and the Commonwealth.

Yet, since I first entered the Massachusetts Senate as one of 16 Republican senators in 1990 — enough to sustain first-term Gov. William Weld’s vetoes — the GOP has lost significant ground. Republican legislative seats are at near historic lows and we don’t hold a single executive branch office. In the last quadrennial election, the only Republican statewide candidates that were even viable were for the governor/lieutenant governor slate.

As our state and nation grapple with an historic economic crisis and our legislators are forced to confront ethical indiscretions by their colleagues, a strong two-party system is badly needed to keep our state on course. In fact, President-elect Barack Obama successfully articulated and captured the voters’ desire for both parties to work together to address our nation’s challenges. And while it is always harder to practice bipartisanship than it is to preach it, it is impossible to reach across the aisle if there is no one sitting on the other side.

While our party’s core principles of fiscal restraint, a competitive business climate with limited taxes and regulation, and a strong belief in individual responsibility resonate with voters, we still see our base of support narrowing and our electoral victories diminishing. One problem for the GOP is that we are not attracting women or minority voters, and we are not attracting young voters. While the reasons and accompanying possible solutions for this are many, one path back to power has got to be a serious plan to reach out to non-traditional GOP voters.

It’s been well-documented on the national level that the Republican Party is suffering from a gender gap. But it doesn’t have to be that way. As a surrogate travelling the country for Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign, I was approached by dozens of women who said they support Republicans on many issues, including homeland security and taxes, but felt like the party wasn’t for them.

One way to convince women voters to embrace the GOP is to field more qualified women as candidates. When the new Legislature is seated in January at the State House, only five out of the 40 senators will be Republicans — a mere 12.5 percent, none of whom are women. During my first term in the Senate in 1991, we not only had enough senators to sustain a gubernatorial veto but women composed 25 percent of our caucus. This year, there will be just 16 GOP House members and only three will be women. The state party must focus on recruiting and supporting women to run for legislative and municipal elections, and offer specific strategies and training that will help them win.

Similarly, the GOP needs to reach out to younger voters as well as blacks and Latinos — demographic groups that overwhelmingly went for Obama in the presidential election and Gov. Deval Patrick in the last gubernatorial race. Younger voters will embrace a return to a traditional Republican view of environmental conservancy that has been absent from recent party platforms. Republican support for charter schools and school choice can help attract urban black and Latino voters who hope for a brighter future for their children. But without a strategy, these demographic groups will continue to be reliable Democratic voters on the state and federal levels.

Our party must also focus on issues that matter to voters. In 1990, Bill Weld and Paul Cellucci swept into office thanks in large part to a focused policy platform of “Crime/Taxes/Welfare Reform.” And lots of legislative candidates were swept in with them. (That was my first run and win.) Candidates Weld and Cellucci were able to articulate a clear vision of how to address these challenges in a way that resonated with Republican, Democratic, and independent voters.

In recent years, divisive social issues have been at the top of the GOP policy agenda on the national level and, to a somewhat lesser extent, here in Massachusetts. Rather than being viewed as the Big Tent, Small Government party, the Republican brand has been positioned by its opponents as intolerant and angry. That hurts Massachusetts candidates, as well as moderates across the country. Identifying the next GOP policy triangle — say “Fiscal Discipline/Education/Ethics Reform” — will go a long way toward rebuilding the moderate voting bloc that elected Republican governors in the 1990s.

While Barack Obama gets accolades for his integration of technology in politics, Deval Patrick’s meteoric rise to the corner office two years ago was an early look at a candidacy powered in large part on a savvy electronic communications strategy. Starting off as a political unknown with no existing support base, Patrick built one from scratch in large part by reaching voters who had never before been active in a campaign.

One tangible benefit of Gov. Patrick’s “netroots” strategy was in fundraising. He had 20,000 individual campaign donors — a remarkable amount for a governor’s race. An enhanced netroots focus would not only help the GOP reach a younger audience, but also generations of older voters who are becoming more tech savvy by the day. (Case in point: My 67-year-old father just joined Facebook.) Technology has been a backroom function on GOP campaigns for too long; it needs to become completely integrated into fundraising, field operations, grass-roots coordination, and communications for Republican candidates to compete in the 21st century. The state GOP should invest the necessary resources to help candidates run tech-savvy campaigns.

I have seen firsthand the improvements in the economy, educational quality, and environmental policy that strong two party-government can bring to Massachusetts. I am convinced that with renewed focus and energy, our party can offer candidates and policies that will best serve all the families of the Commonwealth — and that we will get there faster if we corral the energy and enthusiasm that empowered candidates and grass-roots activists can bring to our party.

Jane Swift is a former Republican governor of Massachusetts.