Can the Republicans Recapture the Spirit of '94?

The battle for leadership of the new minority party in Congress reflects the soul-searching going on after an election drubbing.

After taking a drubbing in this week's congressional elections, the G.O.P. has a plan: rediscovering the Spirit of 1994, the year when the Republicans pulled off their own historic retaking of Congress.

With House Speaker Dennis Hastert deciding to leave his post after the party's defeat, a fierce campaign is already under way for top slots in the House G.O.P. leadership for next year. The candidates have a lot in common — and not just because most of them are middle-aged white men. Nearly every member vying for party power in the new Congress is offering the same description of what ails Republicans and how it can be remedied. It goes something like this: "After 1994, we were a majority committed to balanced federal budgets, entitlement reform and advancing the principles of limited government. In recent years, our majority voted to expand the federal government's role in education, entitlements and pursued spending policies that created record deficits and national debt."