DeFede Columns

MIAMI (CBS4) ― Everyone it seemed wanted a chance to see Sarah Palin close up. More than 220 members of the press were credentialed for this year's Republican Governors Association meeting, which are about 200 more credentials than is normally allocated for an event like this. The Republican faithful were there en masse to hear her speak. And cops, working security, were seen to discreetly pull cameras from their pockets to get a quick snapshot of the Tina Fey look-a-like.

Even Wolf Blitzer brought his mom to meet Sarah Palin. The CNN anchor was in Miami to interview the Alaska governor during last week's RGA meeting, when he arranged for his 86-year-old mother to stop by the Hotel Intercontinental.

Cesia Blitzer lives in Hollywood and while her son tended to his CNN duties, we had a chance to talk. Did she really come down from Broward to meet Palin?

"I've seen her a lot on television," she said, her Polish accent readily apparent. "I came to see my son. But she is beautiful. She looks terrific. Five kids. She's had five kids. That's amazing."

She then returned to the issue most important to her – her son. "I watch him every day from 4 to 7 p.m.," she said. "It's my only pleasure since my husband died. And you know what? Everyday when he is done with the show he calls me. Every day at 7:15. He never misses even one. He's a good son."

And protective. When Wolf emerged from behind the CNN curtain, and saw me chatting with his mom, he came right over.

"Hi. This is my mom. She lives here," he said ushering her away from me.

I can honestly say meeting Wolf Blitzer's mother was the highlight of the two days I spent at the Republican governors conference. Mostly the meeting was a prolonged bout of hand wringing and soul searching. What went wrong for Republicans this year? Where does the party go from here? And who is best equipped to lead it?

There are two camps within the party.

The first is the so-called big tent crowd. They believe the party needs to become more inclusive by reaching out to younger voters and Hispanics. And in order to do that, they need to downplay the contentious social issues like abortion and gay rights and focus primarily on an economic message of lowering taxes and cutting government spending and working on behalf of small businesses. They believe the tone and the tenor of the debate two years ago on immigration reform was disastrous for the party and allowed Democrats to make unprecedented gains among Hispanic voters. And they believe the party needs to be more technologically savvy and run candidates who understand the power and the opportunities provided by the Internet.

"It is extremely important for our party to reach out better and do more," Florida Gov. Charlie Crist told me during the conference. "You have to work for a big tent to be successful in politics."

The second camp is the traditionalist. As far as they are concerned, John McCain was the epitome of the big tent candidate (except for that part about understanding the internet) and since he lost, that wing of the party should quiet down. Their view is that the Republican Party needs to return to core conservative values and if you don't speak out on social issues then those voters will stay home on Election Day.

"Republicans by their own doing are in the wilderness," argued South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford. "Let's go back to the things that made us great as a party."

In interview after interview with Republican governors, these same rivalries and divisions were revisited.

"The Republican Party in my opinion is going to need a lot more than a comb over," said Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Added Utah Gov. John Huntsman: "I've come to realize post-election that not all is well in the family. I'm not one who buys that this [election] is an aberration."

Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman who also attended the conference talked about the problem facing the Republican Party in business terms. "Republicans are losing market share at an alarming rate," she said, citing specifically the gains made by Democrats this year with Hispanics, young voters and women. "I think we should be embarrassed as a party how we allowed some of these core constituencies to get away from us."

Finally, she asked, "How do we make our party more welcoming?"

The 2006 debate on immigration reform was a watershed moment for Republicans, who until that moment had been making a concerted effort to court Hispanic voters.

In 2004, George Bush received 48 percent of the Hispanic vote in the country. This year, McCain received just 33 percent. Four years ago, Republicans won the Hispanic vote in Florida. This year they lost it.

"The tone of the debate needs to be thoughtful and respectful and that's not what happened in 2006," said Pawlenty.

And so it was against all of this introspection that Palin arrived in Miami, a political celebrity not entirely welcomed by her gubernatorial brethren. There was obviously a sense of resentment at the attention Palin received. She could not move without having every camera and reporter in the room surround her.

The first day of the conference she showed up to do a few national TV interviews, including a long chat with Larry King, and then she left. The next day she was scheduled to hold a press conference by herself followed by a speech to those attending the conference. Nearly 200 journalists waited for nearly an hour for her press conference to start and when it finally did, the strangest thing happened.

Rather than a solo event, more than a dozen of her fellow governors showed up on the stage with her. Texas Gov. Rick Perry gave introductory remarks before turning the microphone over to Palin who ended up taking a total of four questions before Perry pushed her aside and ended it. The press conference lasted less than four minutes.

The governors were obviously sending a message to Palin that they would not allow her to command the stage by herself. None of the governors looked pleased at being little more than scenery during this event, but their presence was nonetheless designed to be intimidating.

Although, to be fair, it is not entirely clear who the governors are more annoyed with: Palin for consuming all of the political oxygen in whatever room she walks into; or the press, for their fascination with the Wasilla hockey mom.

"How do you explain the media fascination with anything," Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour shrugged. "You are what you are."

Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas confirmed for me after the press conference that it was a last minute decision to place the other governors on stage behind Palin. He said he wasn't sure who made that decision.

When I asked him if he was concerned the conference was turning into what I had dubbed Sarah-palooza, he quickly shook his head and said, "Oh no, I think it is about the future of the Republican Party."

Nobody here was willing to say Palin is the future of the Republican Party. The big tent folks find her divisive and the traditionalists aren't ready to anoint her their intellectual standard bearer.

Every time I asked one of the governors the question: Is Sarah Palin the future of the Republican Party? The answer was always the same: She's part of it.

Palin also did not help herself in her speech to the RGA after the press conference. Earlier speeches given by Pawlenty and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, were substantive and made thoughtful arguments on where the Republican Party should go.

Palin's address was odd by comparison. It was a modified version of her campaign stump speech. She took a few shots at President-elect Barack Obama, and made several references to Joe The Plumber and Tito The Builder. I believe just one person – out of room of 500 Republicans – clapped at the Joe The Plumber reference.

If Republicans accomplished nothing else in Miami, they may have at least finally put an end to any further mentions of Joe The Plumber in political speeches.

So that's something for which we can all be grateful.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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