In an internal memo sent today to RNC National Committee Members, RNC Chairman Mike Duncan acknowledged the risk in becoming a regionally-confined party, and further underlined the necessity to reinvent the Party through developing sound policy solutions to people’s problems.

First reported by The Washington Times, Duncan has proposed the creation of an RNC-led think tank, the “Center for Republican Renewal.” Noting the need to “move forward as a party … in a way that is consistent with the Republican ideals of sound governance,” RNC Deputy Communications Director Brian Walton said the Center will advocate for “principled solutions to the nation’s challenges.”

The in-house think tank, proposed shortly after Duncan announced his intentions to seek a second term at the helm of the committee, was created separate and apart from Duncan’s re-election campaign according to unnamed party officials… Though Duncan’s true motives remain unclear, the creation of the Center will laregly play to his advantage when the 168 members of the committee gather in late January to vote for the next Chairman.

“Republicans have grown accustomed to having our party recognized as the ‘Party of Ideas,’” Duncan said, adding that the Party “must acknowledge that many Americans today believe the party is stale and does not deserve that label.” Duncan says that while all Republicans – particularly those outside the Beltway – have an obligation to develop sound policy and new ideas, the RNC, he argues, must have an increased role when Republicans control neither the Presidency nor the Congress.

For the RNC to act as Duncan’s envisioned accelerator for change, the Kentucky-native contends Republicans must do the following:

• “Always bear in mind that good policy is good politics and that the Party should play a fruitful role in identifying and generating innovative ideas.
• “Seek solutions outside of Washington, D.C. – listening directly to the American people and learning from those who are grappling with real problems.
• “Remember that the laboratories for Republican policymaking are in the states, counties, cities, and towns of our nation, not in the halls of a Democrat-dominated Congress.
• “Help coordinate policy approaches and alternatives between Congress, the Governors, and state and local officials.
• “Be open to principled solutions no matter where they originate.
• “Use new technologies to better create communities of support and innovation, and build those communities around shared ideas.”

Duncan’s commitment to “new technologies” was echoed in a blog posting earlier today when he quietly announced his endorsement of Patrick Ruffini and Mindy Finn’s tech-centric “Rebuild the Party.”

While the straight-forward memo details the utter cluster-fuck Republicans have landed themselves in after 2004, the Center promises to be a positive step for the RNC after having earned a reputation of being bereft of ideas. If McCain’s loss taught us anything, it’s that we can’t cookie-cutter Karl Rove’s strategies of yester-year to drive a dynamic base to the polls. Obama certainly out-hoped McCain this cycle, but here’s hoping that we have something else to run on apart from a sterling war record in four years, like, for example, ideas.