Despite an intraparty furor caused by the deputy chairman's postelection comments about the future of the party, Republican leaders doubt that he will be seriously challenged when the Ohio GOP's 66-member central committee meets in January to elect a new leader for the first time in 20 years.

"I think Kevin is pretty safe," said David W. Johnson, chairman of the Columbiana County Republican Party and an influential member of the central committee.

"Kevin has my confidence," said James Dicke II, longtime committee member from New Bremen. "I think he'll do a fine job."

Before taking the helm from Robert T. Bennett, the most successful state party chairman in Ohio history, DeWine already has endured a painful lesson: Anger the social conservative base of the party at your own peril.

"Kevin has learned quickly that a logical approach to politics oftentimes doesn't resonate with those on the fringe of the party, whether the right or the left," said Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern.

DeWine unleashed an avalanche of criticism from the right wing after a Nov. 6 news conference in which he delivered a blunt critique of a second consecutive dismal election for his party. He said the party suffered from "an identity crisis" and had "lost a generation of young voters."

But what riled social conservatives was his suggestion that the GOP had focused too much on issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage and not enough on the economy. Citing "a distracting fixation on social issues," DeWine said, "We have to exchange a fiscal message and economic message in for a social message that has dominated the messaging of this party for the last decade."

DeWine was stunned by the outrage from social conservatives. He and Bennett fired off separate letters to county party leaders complaining that DeWine's comments were being twisted. And DeWine felt compelled to assert that Ohio Right to Life had recognized his "perfect voting record" in the Ohio House on abortion issues.

"Unfortunately, my inbox is full of angry, hateful e-mails from people who did not hear this argument in context, and I've been called everything from a coward to a Democrat as a result," DeWine wrote. "It's not hard sometimes to see why many people don't feel welcome in the Republican Party."

The vitriolic response to DeWine's postelection comments exposed the raw emotion attending a deeper debate about the future direction of the GOP. Some members argue that the party cannot expand its appeal by taking a hard line on social issues, including using abortion and gay rights as litmus tests for candidates.

There is debate, too, about whether the party should adhere strictly to Reaganite principles of low taxes and smaller government or pursue an economic reform agenda, recognizing that families need help with health insurance, child care and education costs.

"We are trying to figure out what the future of this party holds in terms of the message it conveys, how it is conveyed and who we convey it to," DeWine said in an interview. "There is a lot of soul-searching going on right now. People are looking and grasping and struggling for answers on how to regain the ground that has been lost over the last few years."

DeWine said the Ohio GOP will remain "a pro-life party," and noted that Ohioans "have spoken on the gay-marriage issue" by overwhelmingly passing a constitutional amendment to ban it in 2004.

But the party must be open to voters of all colors and creeds, and all walks of life, DeWine insisted: "Healthy parties figure out a way to bring people to the table because that's how they win. Purging and repelling people is not an indicator of an organization that is healthy."

House Speaker Jon A. Husted, a Kettering Republican who will join the Ohio Senate in January, said that if the GOP is to attract young people it must reconcile its positions on abortion and gay rights with its long history of advocating freedom on other issues such as gun rights.

"The Republican Party needs to confront the issue that individual freedom is something that it treasures and how that contrasts with some of the positions that we have on social issues while remaining true to the value voters who are important to our success," Husted said. "It's a complicated issue but it needs to be aired and discussed."

Johnson, the Columbiana County chairman whose family has owned a ceramic tile business for about 100 years, said DeWine is correct that the party should focus on an economic message.

"I am an archconservative up and down the line, but the fiscal issues are paramount, and we had better start focusing on tax and spending and regulatory policy in this state and this country or we aren't going to have even a kitchen table to sit at to talk about the cultural issues," Johnson said.

Two social conservative Republicans from the Cincinnati area -- Lori Viars, executive director of Family First PAC, and Christa Criddle, a GOP state central committee member -- said they recognize that economic issues trumped social issues in the 2008 presidential election, but they strongly took exception to DeWine's comments that the party has a "distracting fixation on social issues," and it should "exchange" a fiscal message in for them.

"(DeWine) does have a pro-life voting record, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt that he completely misspoke," Criddle said. "But it did upset the base. At least, if nothing else, he'll just realize the importance of the social conservative base to the party."

Viars said DeWine "smacked us in the face" with his comments after social conservatives did most of the grass-roots work to support the GOP presidential ticket.

"I agree, we need to expand the base, but you don't expand the base by losing a big chunk of the base," Viars said.

Criddle and Viars agreed that there should be room in the GOP for people who support the right to an abortion and back gay rights.

"Certainly," Viars said. "If I were running for office, I would take votes from anybody I could get votes from, but that doesn't mean we throw out what we believe in."

jhallett@dispatch.com