You know, if the media/left is going to call any candidate we put up a “extremist,” then stop putting in moderates and put in a full-bore conservative and see what happens. Someone outspoken and brash. Of course, I don’t see one individual like that.
There's a fine balance between Reagan and Goldwater. The problem we have is that both Reagan and Goldwater were better speakers and political thinkers than Santorum or Palin. And the Goldwater defeat, by 22.6%, and by 434 EV's, had serious down ticket effects. The Democrats gained 2/3 majorities in both houses, giving them the clout to push through the 1965 immigration act opening up mass immigration from the Third World that is still paying dividends for the Democrats today.