AUSTIN — For Republicans debating the future of the GOP in the Age of Obama, here was one idea.

Republican Joe Straus — political newcomer, partisan bridge-builder, advocate for “positive change” — presented himself Monday as the next speaker of the House.

The actual selection by the chamber’s 150 members isn’t until next week, but the San Antonio Republican has rolled up more than enough support to succeed Republican Tom Craddick, the favorite of the party’s social conservative base.

On Monday, Straus stood at the center of the Capitol rotunda surrounded by concentric circles — House supporters, the media, lobbyists craning their necks to hear and, at the outer edges, the general public.

He promised to end the polarization that has marred the House in recent years — music to the ears of Democrats who constitute the bulk of his support and disaffected Republicans who complain Craddick has been autocratic and partisan.

House speaker races are insular affairs, largely unaffected by national trends and political fashion.

But Straus’ meteoric rise comes against a larger debate in which the GOP, both in Texas and nationally, finds itself split into conflicting camps over whether the party needs to remake itself.

On one side are traditionalists who believe the party’s failure in the most recent elections is the result of abandoning the true creed: low taxes, smaller government, family values.

On the other side are reformers who contend the GOP has become hyper-partisan and unwelcoming and must reach out to suburban moderates, minorities and others if the party is to grow.

Kelly Shackelford, a leading social conservative legal activist, said Straus is exactly the wrong direction for a party whose future requires returning to the ideological example of Ronald Reagan. To Shackelford, Straus fails that test.

“From our standpoint, this is a huge lurch to the left,” he said. “In probably one of the most conservative states in the country, we’ve sort of had a liberal coup in the House.”

But Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, touted Straus as the kind of face the party needs — conservative, but open to bipartisan cooperation in a chamber where Republicans hold the barest majority, 76-74.

“To me, Republican center-right is where the state is,” said Branch.

Among Straus’ supporters at Monday’s news conference in the Capitol rotunda was Mark Strama of Austin, who stood under the portraits of past governors, most of them Democrats.

Strama was an early supporter of Barack Obama in Texas, and he sees in Straus’ ascent a mirror of the national mood.

“What’s attractive about Straus is what attracted a lot of voters to Obama — the desire to be a bridge-builder, the desire to solve problems without engaging in an ideological crusade and his unflappable, businesslike approach,” he said.

Nearby, Straus pressed his way through the crowd shaking hands, trailed by House supporters, both Republican and Democrat. With Craddick as a foil, it turned out, uniting them was easy. Governing them may not be.