MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele says the GOP should focus on issues like jobs and education and not on scare tactics.

Steele made the remarks to reporters before he gave a speech Saturday at a Shelby County, Tenn., Republican Party fundraiser. Steele says he has launched an internal review into why a 72-page Power Point presentation to GOP fundraisers in Florida last month included a direct call to exploit "extreme negative feelings" toward Democrats.

POLITICO's Arena contributors discuss if the RNC's fundraising tactics were out of line.

Darrell M. West, vice president, governance studies, Brookings Institution

Fundraisers always feature the most extreme scare tactics because parties are appealing to a small group of people. These tactics are the ultimate in the strategy of playing to the base. However, Republicans will have to decide whether they want to portray the president as the diabolical Joker or the second coming of Karl Marx. If it is the former strategy, they have to figure out which Republican gets to play the role of Batman.

Casting aside Republican concerns about public safety and criticism from Senate Democrats, the Assembly on Monday approved a scaled-back prison reform bill that falls short of the $1.2 billion in cuts needed to plug the state's deficit.

Approval of the bill, on a 41-35 vote, followed several days of intense talks behind closed doors and more than two hours of fierce debate Monday — during which members on both sides invoked the Jaycee Dugard kidnapping case, supporters railed against "scare tactics" and opponents warned that dangerous felons would be loosed on the streets.

Joanna Lumley today claimed the backing of a senior member of the royal family for the campaign for Gurkha settlement rights when she expressed her shock to MPs that last week's government defeat has not yet led to a change of policy.