Despite reviving the party in 2010 with gigantic gains in the lower chamber, only five House GOP lawmakers will address the pared back convention — a reminder just how unpopular the House Republican majority is in this country.

Their presence here — or lack thereof — is striking.

None of the heralded freshmen will take the stage at the Tampa Bay Times Forum.

Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia — the highest-ranking Republican Jew — isn’t speaking to the crowd here.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), chatting with reporters at a lunch, is talking about the need for a shorter convention and simpler platform — and he doesn’t have a top speaking slot either, according to a new schedule provided to POLITICO.

This all comes after House Republicans have spent the past few weeks throwing their entire party off message. Missouri Rep. Todd Akin’s comments on rape and Kansas Rep. Kevin Yoder’s naked swim in Israel forced Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan to answer for their rambunctious colleagues.

Top Republicans downplay the diminished role of House Republicans at the convention. Guy Harrison, executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee, insisted that “a lot of [House Republicans are] on the agenda.”

“We have a House candidate as vice president,” Harrison told reporters Monday afternoon. “I think that shows you a pretty good idea of where House Republicans are involved in this election. We take a lot of pride in Paul Ryan, and we think he’s going to be able to carry the message of House Republicans.”

He also said time is too short for too many speakers.

“Listen, there’s lots of speaking that has to be done,” Harrison said. “It’s hard to pack as many great speakers as we have in the Republican Party in the limited time the networks had given us. I feel very confident in the traditional role that we had in the House speakers.”

Boehner said House Republicans are “doing fine” exposure-wise.

“Sure, you cut the convention from four days to three days, there’s just not as much time, so there are a lot of people who have been cut out of the schedule,” Boehner said. “But I don’t think it’s going to have any material impact on their chances of getting themselves elected.”

Still, there’s no denying that Congress is terribly unpopular, and the national party doesn’t seem eager to give the RNC’s national stage over to many in the House GOP majority. Roughly 2 percent of the Republican Conference is speaking, perhaps illustrating discomfort the national party has with the image of the House majority.

A reworked campaign schedule provided to POLITICO late Monday has the following people addressing the convention: Boehner; Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state, a top Romney surrogate; Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee; Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama; and Rep. Connie Mack of Florida.

Mack is running for Senate in this state, and Sessions and Blackburn have official roles in convention business.

This dynamic is sure to continue in the future. Ryan’s presence on the ticket has stoked questions about whether the party will adhere to his at times unpopular policy prescriptions should they win the White House. Boehner declined to delve into whether the Ryan budget should be the party’s governing platform.

“I think if Romney and Ryan [win], they’re going to have a clear mandate to fix those four big issues I’ve talked about,” Boehner said. “The debt crisis, tax reform … clear up the regulatory nightmare coming out of Washington and fourth, finally, a national energy policy.”

But even as they lay low in Tampa, these House GOP candidates still provide the party with a serious chance of expanding their majority.

Boehner and other top Republicans here are now predicting that the party will gain seats in the House. Harrison predicted Monday that the GOP will win between four and eight House seats in November.

“Frankly, I want to use more of our resources on offense than I do playing defense,” Boehner told reporters during a lunch meeting here Monday, speaking of snatching seats from Democrats. “And while the political prognosticators are out there talking about how many seats we’re going to lose, I’m just going to tell you that that is not my goal. My goal is to gain seats.”

Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who heads up recruitment for House Republicans, expressed similar optimism during a press conference with reporters exploring the national congressional landscape.

“A year ago, the conventional wisdom in Washington was that 25 was a realistic number and that [Nancy] Pelosi had a shot of regaining the majority,” Scalise said. “I don’t think there’s anyone who believes that anymore.”

Even as he predicts a bigger majority under his gavel, Boehner also seems to be comfortable entertaining the prospects of a second Obama term in the White House.

“I think he’s going to have big decisions to make if that was in fact the case,” Boehner said. “Nobody more open to solving the problems facing our country than me. Nobody more transparent about what needs to be done, but it’s going to be the president — I’m going to do everything I can to solve the major challenges facing our country. And I’ll sit down with anyone on either side of the aisle.”

Boehner continued, “For those that know me and those that listen to me over the course of the last 30 days, I never give up. And I never give up on the president regardless of who’s occupying that office.”