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I think one of the fundamental problems here is that campaign strategists are ignoring the content of the GOP platform in favor of strategy. Winning is more important that what you win.

I, and most other conservatives I know, are not willing to list all our beliefs as "for sale" to gain votes. Yes, there is some uncomfortable compromise between the center and the right that goes on when election time comes around, but I think that going after urban voters would require too much compromise in the defining core of the conservative voter.

City dwellers are generally a good fit for the Left because they both group-think. They believe the natural and moral answers to problems involve large groups of people. Consensus and cooperation, real or imagined, are very important. Those who act as individuals are irresponsible and probably dangerous.

Conservatives and country folks are a most natural fit because they tend to believe more in an individual mandate to solve a problem. When there's something wrong, I start with me to resolve it. If I can't solve the problem then, and only then, do I begin to look for others to help. I will involve the minimum outside help/influence necessary, and then only those I know and trust.

Of course those are broad generalizations, but I think those fundamental differences are what will keep the Right from appealing to urban populations any time soon.

Your comments are apt on the surface, but there are exceptions. For an obvious example, Obama got almost all of the inner city Black vote, and yet his policy of softness on illegal aliens bears a causal relationship to the fact that the highest rate of unemployment is among inner-city Black youth. That is not the only factor, do not misunderstand the point. But it most certainly is a contributing factor.

Yet. that said, the politically correct RNC will not raise the point in a way that would cut into Obama's inner city vote. That needs to change.

William Flax