This race, if there's ANY intelligence left in the Republican Party, should clearly illustrate the failure of the move to the center strategy.
We won an overwhelming percentage of Republicans and Independents last night, but lost the election. How? Because not enough of them showed up! You neutered the base, didn't pick up enough independents to make the difference, and it cost this election, which should have been an easy win!
We lost because there are not enough of us that believe in the same principles. Face it, conservatism will not carry the day today or in the future. There is simply not enough of us in the current situation (economic, entitlement, social)to win a large election. Now, if the situation changes where people fear for their safety or survival, conservatism will move to the forefront. But that's not happening now, so we lose. Nowadays, people vote for what they want right now. I see Conservatives speak the conservative mantra and then go out and try to get every free thing they can from the government. The point is, that our side is not strong enough to win. Not willing to do what it takes to win. Now unfortunately, the conservative movement will have to change itself to be able to win. We have squandered what we had. Now, we will have to take on ideas that might not be palatable to us to be able to win. It takes numbers to win. You can't win appealing to a small base, regardless of ideals, morals, integrity and such.
So we have to decide; change or disappear