Some of the Republican party’s most notable leaders has joined together in a new party-building effort called National Council for a New America. The National Council is a new initiative to hold grassroots discussions across the country on critical issues such as education, health care, energy, national security.

Holding the first townhall meeting on May 2, 2009 at a pizza restaurant in northern Virginia to kick off the initiative, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney acknowledged that the party has had setbacks in the past few months and that the Republicans needed a new vision and strategy to overcome idealogical differences, offer sound & practical solutions, and reconnect with the voters.

Here’s the full text of the letter announcing the creation of the National Council. CSPAN has a video of the townhall meeting here.

On CNN’s “State of the Union,” House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Governor Mitt Romney discussed the formation of the National Council: