House Majority Leader’s Quest to Soften G.O.P.’s Image Hits a Wall Within

WASHINGTON — Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House majority leader, has been trying for months to remake the image of the Republican Party, from one of uncompromising conservatism to something kinder and gentler.

It isn’t working so well.

On Wednesday, Republican leaders abruptly shelved one of the centerpieces of Mr. Cantor’s “Making Life Work” agenda — a bill to extend insurance coverage to people with pre-existing medical conditions — in the face of a conservative revolt. Last month, legislation to streamline worker retraining programs barely squeaked through. In May, Republican leaders will try again with legislation, pitched as family-friendly, to allow employers to offer comp time or “flex time” instead of overtime. But it has little prospect for Senate passage.

So it has gone. Items that Mr. Cantor had hoped would change the Republican Party’s look, if not its priorities, have been ignored, have been greeted with yawns or have only worsened Republican divisions.

“We need to look at these issues through a more human lens and realize government has a role here, especially on some of these pocketbook issues,” said Representative Shelley Moore Capito, Republican of West Virginia, who expressed frustration with the lock-step opposition of the House’s fiercest conservatives. “Have we been successful? No. We’re still trying to find our way.”

The debacle on Wednesday was the worst moment yet. The Helping Sick Americans Now Act sounded like solid middle ground — a measure to actually expand the part of President Obama’s health care law that created a federal “high-risk pool” in which people with pre-existing conditions could band together to buy subsidized insurance coverage. The provision was to be paid for by siphoning money from another part of Mr. Obama’s health care law, the Prevention and Public Health Fund.

But these days, those who linger in the middle of the road end up flattened. The White House issued a stern veto threat to keep the money in the fund, which chased away Democratic votes from the Helping Sick Americans Now Act. The Club for Growth, a conservative political action committee, warned that Republicans who voted in favor of the act would have their scorecards marked down for supporting part of the health care law. L. Brent Bozell III, a conservative activist, labeled the bill “Cantorcare” — and not as a compliment.

“We often say we don’t need this Democrat big-government program, we need this Republican big-government program,” said Representative Trey Radel, Republican of Florida. “It’s time to say enough is enough.”

In the end, the votes were not there — not even close, House vote counters conceded.

“We absolutely intend to bring this legislation back up,” said Doug Heye, a spokesman for Mr. Cantor.

When Mr. Cantor delivered a “Making Life Work” speech at the American Enterprise Institute in February, his message to his party was urgent and well received. The party, he said, needs to get beyond its single-minded, green-eyeshaded message of fiscal austerity and look to the problems of ordinary struggling Americans. Education, work-force training, health care and medical research have to augment the central issue of fiscal discipline and balanced budgets, he said.

“It was meaningful and good advice to all of us,” said Representative Charlie Dent, a moderate Republican from Pennsylvania. “I wish more of our members would have heeded it.”

The decision to call off the vote on the health care bill on Wednesday — a rare occurrence in the House — set off a round of recriminations. Some Republicans complained that Mr. Cantor had not vetted his proposals before presenting them publicly as the party’s salvation, then forcing them to the House floor. Others said a large core of the House Republican conference had simply proved unwilling to move beyond the austerity message.

The Republicans’ embrace of such austerity was evident as the House Ways and Means Committee was drafting a bill on Wednesday to ensure that the federal government’s creditors would be the first paid with incoming tax revenues, should Congress refuse this summer to raise the government’s borrowing limit.

Jennifer Steinhauer contributed reporting.

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Running for Ron Paul’s House Seat, but Not in His Image

It is hard enough to get voters to remember their names — there are nine Republicans running — in an election that is rife with confusion because of a delayed primary date and redrawn boundaries. And for all the hero worship Mr. Paul has cultivated among a small but vocal subset of the electorate, nobody is rushing to imitate “Dr. No.”

“I don’t get a sense that people are looking for the next Ron Paul,” said Jay Old, a Beaumont lawyer and the top fund-raiser in the crowded field. “I think they are looking for people who want the very best for the district.”

Partisan gerrymandering often turns political jurisdictions into zigzagging monstrosities, but the redrawn Congressional District 14 is straightforward and compact. It starts at the southeast corner of Texas, along the Louisiana border, and going west picks up two whole coastal counties, Jefferson and Galveston, and about half of another, Brazoria.

It was not what Mr. Paul, the 76-year-old physician, had in mind. The district lost much of its rural character, and he faced the daunting prospect of introducing himself to about 300,000 people who were not in the old version of the district.

Though he is running for president, Mr. Paul could have also legally sought re-election, as he did in 2008. Mr. Paul is now in his 12th term.

He quit instead, and the race to fill his Republican-leaning seat has become a free-for-all among Republicans.

If none of the nine candidates wins half of the vote outright on May 29, the top two will face off in a July 31 runoff. That appears to be the most likely scenario.

Whoever emerges will probably face former United States Representative Nick Lampson, Democrat of Beaumont, who has strong ties to the area and an even stronger conviction that the seat will be competitive in the fall. There are 11 major party candidates altogether, plus Zach Grady, a Libertarian, running for the seat.

There are four Republican candidates whose money and political connections give them the best shot at making a runoff. Mr. Old has raised the most money and had $308,000 on hand as of the last reporting period, which ended in April. He is already running TV ads, but his history of voting in past Democratic primaries and his donations to Democratic candidates have prompted criticism from his Republican opponents.

Mr. Old, 48, said that Democrats traditionally dominated elections in his native Jefferson County, and that when there were no options in the Republican primary, “that means you pick the most qualified, most conservative candidate the other side offers.”

Michael Truncale, another well-financed Republican from Beaumont, is stressing his grass-roots appeal and political reach as a State Republican Executive Committee member. At last count, Mr. Truncale, 54, a lawyer and former Texas State University System regent, had $149,000 in the bank.

One possible factor working against both men is their home county: its tradition of voting for Democrats means Republican turnout could be much lower there than in the western part of the district.

That is one reason State Representative Randy Weber of Pearland is expected to make the runoff. The owner of an air-conditioning company he started in 1981, Mr. Weber takes pride in his 2009 designation as the most conservative member of the Texas House, as scored by the Texas Conservative Coalition. He also picked up Gov. Rick Perry’s endorsement.

“I have a track record of conservative action,” said Mr. Weber, who traces his political activism to former President Ronald Reagan’s re-election bid. “I don’t just know all the talking points. I’ve lived them for 29 years.” Mr. Weber had raised $282,000 for the race and had the second-highest cash-on-hand figure in the Republican field — $227,000, as of the last reporting period.

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