June 11 - Republicans are attempting to revamp their campaign agenda. That has caused finger pointing and an inter party debate. Election Unspun Correspondent Matt Laslo reports from Washington.

Republican leaders are admittedly nervous. In recent months Democrats won three special election seats in what was thought to be safe Republican territory. House Minority Leader John Boehner says Republicans need a makeover.

"This election is about change and if the American people don't see us as an agent of change, they're not going to vote for us."

Boehner wants his party to reach out to independent and female voters. To do that, Republicans will shift their message from a social agenda to an economic agenda. Some of the new messages include supporting fully deductible medical expenses and paid comp time. Pennsylvania Congressman Charlie Dent says it is good for the party to move away from social issues.

" the Republican brand, if you will, has been tarnished, because of some positions on some social issues, for example, I can point to three: the Terri Schiavo issue, stem cells, intelligent design, three issues that cast the party as anti-science."

But some lawmakers say social issues will always be a key part of the Republican agenda. Zach Wamp from Tennessee says the Republican Party can't afford to leave social issues out.

"Well in the South and in certain parts of the country they are gonna help drive the agenda, because people are very worried about a left turn on social issues."

Tom Cole is the chairman of the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee. He says the message isn't broken, but the perception of the Republican party is damaged.

"I think that the Republican message has proven pretty popular, we've just had a couple of Democratic victories where Democrats ran essentially as Republican"

That is how Democrats won back the majority in 2006. They ran a lot of moderate Democrats in conservative districts. Patrick Murphy of Pennsylvania was one of conservative Democrats elected in the last cycle. He says women voters, proving to be a key voting block in 2008, aren't going to be swayed by a GOP makeover. Murphy says the Republicans stance on the State Children's Health Insurance Program – or S-CHIP is evidence enough.

"Mothers across the country love their children more than they love themselves, and the fact that they wouldn't stand up to President Bush when we tried to override his veto of S-CHIP is a telling example of where their true priorities lie."

Republican leaders have less than six months to retool their message in order to stave off a major Democratic sweep in November. Many congressional aides say their bosses are upset with the leadership. They say unless the leaders do something soon they can expect to be out of the leadership next year.

For Election Unspun, I'm Matt Laslo in Washington.

Interview - George Lakoff, Linguistics Professor at UC Berkley on GOP Message

Will a new Republican message fly with voters? Election Unspun producer Karen Miller spoke with George Lakoff, Professor of Linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley.

He says Republicans attempt to switch from a social agenda to an economic agenda has been done before.

"What their doing is Clinton style incrementalism. We're not looking at big economic issues, like what are trade polices should be, or the understanding of whether there should be more regulation in the market, in the banking system, or any of those things.

They're taking small things, that in fact effect very few people's real lives, and they're saying, we're going to say the sort of thing Democrats would say, about these small things, and that's going to help you. And what they're doing is taking a page, from the Clintons."