Lovers of Ronald Reagan: Avert your eyes. A leading Republican strategist said the beloved leader is dead and that the GOP of the future needs to move on and quit looking to the past.

Ford O’Connell, a former campaign worker for Sen. John McCain’s failed bid for the presidency in 2008, said in his newly released book that the Republican Party has been hit hard with “obsessive Reagan disorder,” an unhealthful state that is stymieing growth, The Hill reported.

The guidance is sure to irk those who see the GOP as falling fast from traditional conservative views and pine for what they see as the golden days of Reagan.

But Mr. O’Connell said he was only trying to propel the party forward.

Read more from Cheryl K. Chumley at The Washington Times 

A Republican strategist is reminding his party that President Reagan is dead.

Ford O'Connell, who worked on Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) 2008 presidential campaign, says if Republicans want to win the White House in 2016, they need to break free of the "obsessive Reagan disorder."

Rule #1 of the political analyst's newly released book, "Hail Mary: The 10-Step Playbook for Republican Recovery," is: "Ronald Reagan is dead. Accept it."

Such a sentiment is sure to be tough to digest for a party insistent on using the 40th president's legacy as a GOP litmus test to prove conservative credentials.

"The Reagan fixation is a drag on the future success of the GOP at the national level. It undermines the candidates because it becomes a crutch for their inability to articulate an actual agenda or a forward-looking vision," he writes.

In an interview with The Hill, O'Connell says he combines his "two loves: politics and football" into his work “Hail Mary,” a sort-of political manual for presidential hopefuls.

The native Texan contends that he is "not pushing a personal agenda" in his blunt "playbook."

He says it is aimed squarely at the 2016 Republican presidential hopefuls, whom he handicaps in a chapter entitled “2016 Republican Presidential Scouting Report."

 "This was an honest attempt to say, 'Hey, if you want to win the White House, you've got to understand the obstacles and what it's going to take to get 270 electoral votes, regardless of who the nominee is," O'Connell explains.

Read more from Molly Hooper at The Hill

When legendary University of Michigan football coach, Bo Schembechler, retired in 1990, many people saw the end of a golden age; that Michigan, the most winning program in the history of Division I college football, would never achieve that same glory. But Bo was replaced. The football team claimed more victories and more championships. Football, like life, went on. Bo never would have wanted Michigan to live in the past.

The Republican Party has not learned this lesson about its own team. We are still waiting for our beloved head coach, Ronald Reagan, to come out of the locker room and lead us to another victory.

Anyone who tries a different approach is questioned and doubted – “that’s not how Ronald Reagan would have done it.” This is not the way to build a winning team.

If Republicans want to win big victories again, the first lesson is a painful one: Ronald Wilson Reagan is dead and he’s not coming back. 

A disturbing trend has emerged in Republican presidential primaries and is threatening the GOP’s White House prospects in 2016. I call it O.R.D. – “Obsessive Reagan Disorder.” It is the insistence that any presidential candidate verify that he is Reagan’s stylistic and ideological twin.

Read more from Ford O'Connell at FoxNews.com

Mitt Romney’s divisive remarks about America’s 47 percent continues to cast a long shadow over the Republican Party – and 2016 presidential hopefuls are trying to outrun it. Two frontrunners for the GOP nomination are raising an issue that has long been the preserve of the Democrats: the poor and how best to help them.

A year after Romney failed to unseat President Obama, ambitious Republicans seeking to make themselves into national figures and redefine their party are distancing themselves from the former Massachusetts governor and his inability to come across as a guy who cares about the down and out.

Republican strategist Ford O’Connell says the 47 percent line has become a buzzword, reminding voters that Republicans hate poor people. “That is something that is strapped, right or wrong, to the Republican brand,” he said. “If [Republicans] want to win the White House or to get into a position of power again, they’re going to have to break that label.”

The current fight over the budget and Farm Bill, both currently being negotiated between House Republicans and Senate Democrats, highlights the GOP’s problem. If no budget agreement is reached because Republicans, led by Ryan, refuse to accept any tax increases, Democrats will be able to attack them for refusing to ease painful spending cuts by closing tax loopholes for the rich.

Same goes for the Farm Bill, where Republicans want to cut the food stamps program, which helps feed one in seven Americans, by nearly $40 billion. 

“It doesn’t look good,” O’Connell said, conceding that the public perception of the battle over food stamps is not helping Republicans shake their bash-the-poor reputation. “Republicans need to take a look at their policies,” he said. “But, at the end of the day, the optics of ‘Do you care about me?’ is what’s killing them.”

Read more from Pema Levy at Newsweek

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) is accelerating efforts to explore another bid for the presidency. But few Republicans, including some past supporters, are excited at the prospect of him launching a second White House campaign.

Perry is making all the moves of a traditional candidate, with multiple visits to Iowa, an upcoming trip to South Carolina and a flurry of recent appearances on cable news networks.

But following his disappointing 2012 campaign, and heading into an election where the GOP field appears to be much stronger, few strategists think he would stand a real chance of winning the 2016 nomination.

The Texas governor’s biggest hurdles, say strategists, are overcoming voters’ memory of his infamous “oops” moment in a 2011 GOP debate, and convincing the big donors who fueled his campaign last time to stick with him over other contenders.

  “There are several options this time for the big-money donors: [New Jersey Gov. Chris] Christie, [Florida Sen. Marco] Rubio, [Wisconsin Gov. Scott] Walker, and others. When [Perry] ran last time, they dumped $17 million into his account, and that won’t be there,” GOP strategist Ford O’Connell said.

“And it’s really hard to forget ‘oops,’ especially with Republicans worried about Hillary [Clinton].”

Read more from Cameron Joseph at The Hill

On the Thursday edition of The Chad Hasty Show, author and GOP strategist Ford O’Connell talked with Chad Hasty about how the Republicans can get back into power in Washington.

In O’Connell’s book, “Hail Mary: The 10-Step Playbook for Republican Recovery,” he outlined some of the ways the Republicans can regain power in Congress, and even get back in the White House. With 2014 on the horizon, he predicted that health care should definitely be the major focus for the Republicans. O’Connell also pointed out that one of the problems with the Republican party is that they let the Democrats define them in the media and that they need to do a much better job of articulating their agenda.

“One of the things Republicans really have to do…is they really have to articulate a 21st century agenda going forward. They have to project their positive agenda. They have to project themselves as problem-solvers. And really, they have to expand the tent. Unfortunately, we seem to stick ourselves inside the echo chamber in FOX News and Rush Limbaugh, who I love dearly. But we have to get outside and start talking to people where they are and bring those voters into our tent.”

O’Connell agreed that the Republican party is split up, but said that regardless of whether the party decides to go the Tea Party route or the more establishment route, the Republicans need a “just win” mentality. O’Connell praised New Jersey Governor Chris Christie as a great example of this mentality, especially with his win in this week’s elections. He said that Christie is a fighter and can appeal to the whole country, not just his state of New Jersey.

Read more from Ariel Walden at KFYO News Talk 790 AM

It may be three years away, but the 2016 presidential election cast a long shadow over the races for governor in New Jersey and Virginia. Now the results are in, it begs the question: What does the re-election of a Republican governor in true blue New Jersey and the election of a high-profile Hillary Clinton ally in deep purple Virginia tell us about the next presidential contest?

On Tuesday night, the popular and larger-than-life Republican Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, trounced a little-known middle-ground Democratic state senator by winning over large swathes of women and minority voters who are typically wary of today's GOP, the party that largely caters to old white males.

Two hundred miles southwest in Virginia, Democrat Terry McAuliffe, a close ally of Hillary and Bill Clinton, eked out a victory over Tea Party favorite Ken Cuccinelli, largely by running up the score with single women.

It may be three years away, but the 2016 presidential election cast a long shadow over the races for governor in New Jersey and Virginia. Now the results are in, it begs the question: What does the re-election of a Republican governor in true blue New Jersey and the election of a high-profile Hillary Clinton ally in deep purple Virginia tell us about the next presidential contest?

Among the Republican establishment, Christie's message was heard loud and clear. "It shows the Republicans that if you can expand the tent of voters, you can go to great places," said Republican strategist Ford O'Connell. Those margins are "like Neil Armstrong walking on the moon if you're a Republican."

That message, O'Connell said, was only made stronger by what happened in Virginia, where Cuccinelli, the Tea Party candidate, narrowly lost to former Democratic Party Chairman Terry McAuliffe in a race that pitted an ultraconservative Republican against a weak, widely distrusted Democrat. "What it shows you is if you want to win, regardless of the circumstances, you're going to have to get beyond the base," O'Connell said.

Read more from Pema Levy at Newsweek

Chris Christie’s victory galvanized the GOP’s establishment wing on Tuesday as they try to regain control of their party ahead of national elections. The centrist Republican’s glide to re-election in blue New Jersey comes a month after Ted Cruz rallied the Tea Party to shut down the government and promised a bloody revolt against weak-willed RINOs. 

And then there’s Marco Rubio. Remember him? 

“At this juncture he’s gone from ‘establishment frontrunner’ to ‘preferred Vice Presidential candidate’ for just about everyone,” GOP strategist Ford O’Connell told msnbc. “To the establishment money guys, when Christie says “Hey, I just won arctic blue New Jersey by 20 or 30 points,’ that’s tough to overcome. The fundraisers want to win and they will do what it takes to win.”

The bright side for Rubio is that he has plenty of time to recover.

Read more from Benjy Sarlin at MSNBC.com

Sen. Rand Paul’s readiness for a presidential run in 2016 is being put to the test by the plagiarism charges swirling around him.

In an attempt to quiet the controversy, the Kentucky Republican’s office on Tuesday said the vetting process for his speeches would be changed so that “supporting facts and anecdotes” are clearly sourced.

But Paul’s handling of the controversy has raised broader questions about whether he’s ready for the intense media scrutiny that a run for the White House entails.

GOP strategists agree that plagiarism incident is nowhere near disqualifying for 2016, but cautioned it is just a preview of the pressure he’d face in 2016. 

“He just got a taste of what the presidential primary campaign trail is like and the scrutiny that everything you do and say will be under,” said GOP strategist Ford O’Connell. “So he is going to have to tighten up how he does things.”

“If he allows this to fester, with his 2016 aspiration, it could become a roadblock. Right now it is just a bump in the road,” O’Connell said.

Read more from Mario Trujillo at The Hill

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) decision to abandon his legal fight against gay marriage has enraged social conservatives — and shows he’s betting a big reelection win next month matters more to his 2016 presidential ambitions than appealing to a religious base already leery of him.

That calculation will likely help him maintain a big lead heading into New Jersey’s Nov. 5 gubernatorial election. It takes away a major issue his Democratic opponent, state Sen. Barbara Buono, has criticized him over during the campaign.

Most polls show Christie headed for a solid double-digit reelection win, which the governor needs to bolster his case to potential Republican primary voters that he is electable in Democratic states.

But by standing down on his gay marriage fight, Christie is also inviting risk. He has likely damaged himself with the evangelical voters who make up large parts of the Republican primary electorate in early-voting Iowa and South Carolina.

“He’s in a tough place with respect to winning the early primaries over this issue. But if he can get to a place like Florida, he’s going to look a lot better,” said GOP strategist Ford O’Connell.

“He was in a tough position with social conservatives to begin with. He picked the lesser of the two evils on this. He’s saying ‘If I take care of New Jersey right now, 2016 will take care of itself.’ ”

Read more from Cameron Joseph and Alexandra Jaffe at The Hill