Analysis: For U.S. Republicans, political makeover has few changes

By John Whitesides WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A year after Republican leaders vowed to "rebrand" their party to broaden its appeal in light of a dispiriting election loss to Democratic President Barack Obama, the Republican strategy for 2014 is looking a lot like the one from 2012. At the Republican National Committee's winter meeting this week in Washington, it was clear the panic that hit the party after the 2012 elections has subsided, although polls indicate that efforts to make the party more attractive to single women, minorities and gays, groups that favor Democrats by big numbers, have not made any headway. Many Republicans remain concerned about the party's long-term prospects in the face of such problems, but they have been heartened by the troubled launch of Obama's healthcare overhaul and by polls that suggest Obama's Democrats are not much more popular than Republicans. So in many ways, this week's meeting of Republican officials has been an affirmation of the party's reluctance to change its core strategies for the 2014 midterm elections: Opposition to abortion and an assault on Obamacare, as the president's healthcare overhaul is known.