WASHINGTON - House of Representatives Republican Leader John Boehner says he has no plans to alter a new campaign slogan — “Change you deserve” — that has been widely mocked since the phrase is used to market the anti-depressant drug Effexor.

“I think it’s working out just fine,” a smiling Boehner told reporters when asked about the slogan that has become the butt of jokes on Capitol Hill.

The slogan is part of a new effort by House Republicans “to fix Washington,” outline plans to help Americans and raise their floundering election-year prospects of retaking control of the legislative body from Democrats.

“Democrats, not drugs, is what the American people need,” House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer said in poking fun at the campaign and antidepressant slogan.

Some Republicans have also complained, saying privately that the slogan makes them look foolish.

Others, like Rep. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, say, “Another slogan doesn’t do much. People are more concerned about what we do.”

“We have to be bolder than this. If we don’t, we will get the change we deserve.” Flake said.

With polls showing voters favor Democrats on a host of issues, they are expected to increase their House majority in the November elections. This week, Democrats won their third straight special election to fill a vacant seat in a previously Republican district, raising their House majority to 236-199.

Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, a former chairman of the House Republican campaign committee, wrote colleagues: “The loss of three straight special elections … are canaries in the coal mine, warning of far greater losses in the fall, if steps are not taken to remedy the current climate.”

Boehner said of the Davis memo: “I frankly thought it was well done, rather insightful, and really laid out the challenge that we face.” 

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Darren Staples (another anti-depressant medication.)

WASHINGTON - House Minority Leader John Boehner on Wednesday shrugged off a warning that his fellow Republicans are facing peril in the fall elections unless they change course, a prediction made by a former Republican House speaker. 
 
Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich warned on Tuesday that Republicans must immediately “chart a bold course of real change” otherwise they will “suffer decisive losses this November.”
   
That apparently didn’t sit too well with Boehner as he faces an uphill battle to reclaim control of the U.S. House of Representatives since more than two dozen fellow House Republicans are leaving this fall or running for another office. And last weekend, they lost a Republican seat in Louisiana in a special election.
 
“Listen a lot of people have a lot of ideas and advice for me and our leadership team about what it is that we should do,” Boehner told reporters after a meeting with President George W. Bush at the White House.
 
“I tell our colleagues every week, if you stand up and do the right things for the right reasons, the right things will happen,” Boehner said. “And frankly, we have been standing up for the right things that the American people want us to.”
 
The Ohio Republican argued that their efforts to cut taxes and expand exploration for oil and gas in the United States served as evidence that they were on the right path for the November elections. 
 
“There’s a whole array of issues that I think where we’re representing the interests of the American people,” Boehner said.

Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage. 

- Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Young (Boehner after a meeting with Bush at the White House)