Hot Springs, Va.»
House Republicans, mired in the minority and hungry for leadership, welcomed former presidential candidate Mitt Romney with sustained applause, hoots and hollers and, above all, the trillion-dollar question in an economic crisis: What would you do?
Nearly a year after ending his White House bid, Romney met with the 178 remaining House GOP members on Friday at a retreat here, deep in the heart of a once fervently red Virginia now showing a tinge of blue in its politics.
Romney, a successful business leader introduced as the savior of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, gladly offered his advice.
"As the opposition party, we're entirely free to do what is right for the country," Romney said. "There are certain advantages, of course, to that kind of freedom, and I suggest we make the most of them."
The former Massachusetts governor praised the Grand Old Party members for their lock-step vote against a Democratic stimulus package -- which passed anyway. He said they stood true on principle and voted in the best interest of Americans. And he castigated Democrats for a pork-laden bill that he said wasn't the answer to the nation's economic troubles.
In a nod to the Republicans' loss of the White House and shrinking minorities in the House and Senate, Romney said he still did not see a "seismic shift in America toward a liberal agenda," and as long as the GOP trumpets its core
belief in fiscal conservancy and limited government, the party would bounce back.

"This great party of ours has seen setbacks before," Romney said. "They have never defined us."
Of any Republican presidential contender, Romney earned the most endorsements from this group of GOP congress members, and his travels across the country -- along with some $400,000 in donations last year -- have earned him a sweet spot with the House's minority party.
"The purpose of this conference is to inspire and to inform and to get the creative juices flowing and having someone of his vision and intellect and political experience come in front of this group, I think it's exactly what we're looking for," said Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, the House Republican Conference chairman, following Romney's address.
Romney was vague in defining his future role in the party. While he has previously ruled out another White House bid, on Friday, Romney said he didn't want to forecast past 2010.
But he did say he plans to write a book, which an aide said would be a comprehensive set of policy papers on the challenges the country faces.
 
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