Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, left; then-President George W. Bush; and Gulfport, Miss., Mayor Brent Ward meet with community leaders in Gulfport, Miss.,in this Aug. 20, 2008, file photo to get an update on rebuilding progress in the Gulf Coast.

Jackson, Miss. ? If the Republican Party is in danger of being marginalized as a conservative, white male Southern enclave, is Haley Barbour — longtime Washington power broker and Mississippi governor — the best person to turn things around?

Many rank-and-file Republicans and party leaders say yes, as Barbour, 61, prepares to ramp up his national profile this month with back-to-back trips to the early presidential voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

Barbour will headline fundraisers in both states, but says the visits are part of his duties as incoming chairman of the Republican Governors Association. Both states have governors’ races next year.

A former chairman of the Republican National Committee, Barbour has emerged as a leader of his party’s efforts to retool for the future.

“Haley’s unique in that he’s a brilliant strategist who led the party and has also run in and won a competitive governor’s race,” said Ed Gillespie, a former RNC chairman.

Barbour at first blush might not fit anyone’s idea of the standard bearer for a party looking to diversify. He’s a former lobbyist who made millions representing tobacco and other business interests, even as lobbyists increasingly have become stigmatized.

But Barbour’s political skills have been tested and proven in Mississippi, where he defeated a Democratic incumbent to become just the second Republican elected governor since Reconstruction, and at the national level, where he helped rescue the GOP during another low period for the party.