and Still stinging from its 2012 presidential election loss, the GOP is planning to give itself a makeover. Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus hopes to replicate President Obama's winning model by expanding outreach to diverse communities and embarking on enhanced grassroots, digital and social media campaigns.

"We must compete in every state and every region, building relationships with communities we haven't before," Priebus says in a statement to be made today at a meeting of the RNC in Charlotte, N.C., Politico reports. "We must develop the best technology with the help of the best minds — and train activists, volunteers and candidates with the modern tools of a modern party. ... We can stand by our timeless principles — and articulate them in ways that are modern ... relevant to our time and relatable to the majority of voters."

Kevin Williams, director of the documentary Fear of a Black Republican and a GOP committee member in Trenton, N.J., has some advice on how to get started.

"Reach out to the African-American and urban voters already in the districts the GOP represents to get an idea of how bad things actually are," he writes in a Washington Post opinion piece. "Listen, don't talk much. Know where 'ground zero' is for real."

Williams' advice includes committing funds to support Republican candidates in urban and Black-majority districts; ending the practice of gerrymandering, which dilutes minority and urban voting power; and addressing audiences at minority journalism conventions as well as the annual conventions of the NAACP and the National Urban League. He also says the party should spend money advertising in minority media outlets and "build its own talented farm team in urban America."

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