From CNN's American Morning:

ROBERTS: Republican leaders have launched a new effort hoping to take back some of the support that they lost in the last election. GOP numbers are dwindling on Capitol Hill, and former Florida governor and brother to the former president, Jeb Bush, says he doesn't like what he's seeing.

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BUSH: From the conservative side, it's time for us to listen first, to learn a little bit, to upgrade our message a little bit, to not be nostalgic about the past. But what I've seen in the last few years is really troubling.

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ROBERTS: For more now, we're joined by House Republican Whip Eric Cantor. He is also a member of the National Council for a New America. That group there that's hoping to remake the Republican Party.

Congressman, it's great to see you this morning.

Let's just take a look at how Republican fortunes have changed since 1995 when the Contract with America swept you to power. In 1995, you had 230 seats in the House, now you've got 178. You had 52 Senate seats, now 40. That's a pretty serious erosion. What happened?

CANTOR: Well, John, clearly, we've had some setback, no question about it. Could we have done better in many areas? Absolutely. That's why we've launched the National Council for a New America.

And as Governor Bush just said, it is very important at this point that we go back out across the country, bring in as many people as possible to begin a conversation about the direction of this country.

And the National Council for New America is meant to be a forum for folks to gather to come, to discuss the issues confronting them in their community and frankly to rally around the principles that we know have made this country great which are liberty, opportunity and devotion to the individual and free market.

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