Reince Priebus

Republicans are meeting in a Democratic stronghold this week to talk about retooling their message. So far, there are sharp divisions among RNC delegates about the future direction of the GOP.

Democrats are winning the digital arms race, a recent GOP report concludes. Republicans say Democrats have a built-in advantage: that many technology and social media experts aren't Republican. Now, the GOP is taking distinct steps to improve its digital strategy and online presence.

As the Republican National Committee offers criticism and advice for the party after its performance in 2012, a political science professor has come up with a list of sometimes similar GOP outreach efforts of old.

The hard-eyed assessment of the 2012 national election by the Republican National Committee is either the first step toward the GOP's recovery or the latest sign that the party is headed for a break-up.

The Republican National Committee report offers the party a way forward after its 2012 failure to defeat President Obama, who was long seen as vulnerable because of a relatively high jobless rate and uninspiring economic growth.

Following November's losses, there's wide agreement among Republicans that the party has to change. A former George W. Bush speechwriter says one model to study is how the Democrats bounced back after a similar political exile in the late 1980s.

"I will talk to a head of lettuce if I can get them to vote Republican," says Sharon Day, the newly re-elected Republican National Committee co-chair. RNC Chairman Reince Priebus says the GOP needs better relationships in "minority communities, urban centers, college towns."

But Republican leaders say there won't be a sudden about-face in policy, despite recent disappointments at the polls. The party is focusing on message, technology and grass-roots organizing at its meetings in Charlotte, N.C.

There has been no dearth of post-election Republican self-flagellation. But the party is still sorting out solutions, wrangling over whether its problems lie in its positions on issues ranging from immigration to women's reproductive health, or simply in its sales job with the voting public.

Matthews accused Republicans of seizing on Obama's race to make him appear like "the other." It was a charge Priebus called "garbage."