It was like group therapy for political outcasts when Pennsylvania Republicans gathered for the first time since last year's elections, hoping to heal wounds and regain power by repeating a mantra of fiscal discipline, lower taxes and smaller government.

"I think our party needs to take a good, long look in the mirror," said GOP chairman Robert Gleason. "We can blame others ... or realize the voters sent us a message."

That message, repeated on cue by speaker after speaker at the Republican State Committee's winter meeting at the Hilton Harrisburg, is that the party lost its way, became the party of scandal and supported big government, and that politicians put themselves ahead of the people they were elected to represent.

The cure for being in political purgatory as the minority party, they said repeatedly, is a return to basics.

"Core values and unity, that's how we're going to get our party back," said Robert Asher, a Republican National Committee member.

"The result of the election is we lost our way ... and we have to find it," said Attorney General Tom Corbett, one of only two Republicans elected statewide.

"We need to refresh and renew what we believe in," said U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach, R-West Chester.

State Republicans envision a three-year rebuilding process beginning with this year's local races and statewide judicial races leading into next year's presidential race and culminating with the 2010 gubernatorial election.

They're planing a June conference in Hershey, where the party's presidential candidates will be invited to speak, as part of a program to re-energize and refocus the party faithful.

Across the river, Democrats gathered at the Radisson Penn Harris Hotel and Convention Center in East Pennsboro Twp. for their winter meeting. They continued beating their chests as they celebrated Bob Casey Jr.'s 18-point victory over U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, Gov. Ed Rendell's landslide re-election, and majorities in Congress and the state House.

"Clearly, folks are upbeat," Democratic chairman T.J. Rooney said. "These people have been part of one of the more successful periods of our history."

But even as they come off one of their most difficult election cycles in decades, Pennsylvania Republicans think they have at least one thing going for them: Rendell.

Republicans are embracing the tax increases and budget that the governor proposed last week as an opportunity to recast their image as the party of fiscal discipline and offer voters a contrast.

"Ed Rendell handed us a gift," GOP consultant Charlie Gerow said.

Most Democrats dismissed that as Republicans' "background noise."

"They're doing their partisan sniping, I understand that," said state Rep. Kathy Mandarino, D-Philadelphia.

Democrats such as John Hanna, an Indiana County lawyer and activist, said Rendell has presented an ambitious second-term agenda that seeks to address complex problems, including paying for transportation needs, making up for cuts in federal money and reducing the number of Pennsylvanians without heath insurance.

"The governor's pushing for everything he can get, but he knows he's not going to get everything he wants," Hanna said.

Still, others worry the governor's push for new taxes could mean a short tenure for Democrats as the state House majority.

"Most of us think it was sort of bad timing," said Dante G. Bertani, the Westmoreland County Democratic chairman.

While most Republicans sought to move beyond last year's elections and focus on the future, leaders acknowledged that the party is struggling to unify and settle on a surefire path to victory.

Some officials described the process as comparable to dealing with stages of grief, and many continue to debate the last election instead of focusing on the next one.

"We're still grappling with the impact of this last election," Corbett said.

He said the party needs to become more inclusive and expand its base by reaching out to Hispanic and Asian voters.

But as Republicans hope to expand the party, Robert Nix, a Philadelphia lawyer who attended Friday night's dinner, where Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta was a keynote speaker, warned that Barletta's inclusion sends Hispanics a "bipolar message."

Barletta, who was trailed by private security guards hired by the state committee because of threats he has received, has gained national prominence and controversy over his ordinance to punish landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and businesses that hire them. A federal judge has blocked enforcement of the ordinance.

"This is two steps backward, and it sends the wrong message about the future of the party," said Nix, chairman of the Republican Hispanic Caucus, who confronted Barletta during a reception.

Gleason defended the decision to invite Barletta, arguing that the mayor and party support legal immigration.

Lynn Swann, who was crushed by Rendell in the governor's race, pledged to remain involved in GOP politics over the next four years. Some people in the White House and Pennsylvania are urging him to challenge freshman U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire, D-Pittsburgh, or to run for governor in 2010.

"A lot of people are talking with me about both of those things," Swann said. "I will continue to look and stay engaged."