Talk to Power host Judy Woodruff interviewed Senator Thad Cochran in November of 2007 in response to hundreds of questions and comments from Yahoo readers.  Several topics were addressed including:

The Future of the GOP
The Role of U.S. Troops
Saving Social Security
No Child Left Behind
The State of Education
Defining Victory in Iraq
Bringing the Troops Home

Stay tuned this week for excerpts from this interview.  First, Senator Cochran addresses the Future of the GOP.  Read the transcript below.

Future of the GOP

MS. JUDY WOODRUFF:   From the South, and, again, in this vein, a reader writes:  “I am wondering about recent comments in the news media after the mid-term elections that the Republican Party will primarily be a Southern-based party.  Your recent election to minority leadership positions of primarily Southern senators plays this out.  Will the Republican Party be able to appeal to the broader nation in future elections, with this Southern-based leadership and outlook?  Will the Southern conservative values and perceptions be able to win broad appeal across the nation and return the party to power?”

SEN. COCHRAN:  Well, it’ll be interesting to see about the transition and how much farther it goes in terms of realignment of states with political parties.  When I was growing up, we didn’t have any local Republican elected officials.  It just didn’t happen.  But back in the Civil War days, the Republicans were the ones who were reforming the federal government, and the Democrats were sort of the old Confederates from the Civil War, and it took a long time for that transition to be made. 

(more…)