The GOP does need to figure out how to win more non-leftist white northern voters. It would probabaly be easier to win working class whites in states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin than whites in northeastern states, but none should be written off.
They should have learned something from the Reagan wins and also from the races like Maine. I think the North East is prime territory as well as the mid atlantic and midwest states. The biggest problem we face in those states is a shallow bench of candidates and few that have the kind of back stories such as LePage and others that even if they do have a good story they don’t have the money to sell it. So what we usually end up with is either a rich candidate who is left of center or a right of center candidate who is used to running in a conservative friendly area of the state and doesn’t know how to appeal outside of the base or we end up with someone who just runs for the heck of it with no money and no chance in hell of winning.
I found this picture of Maine interesting. LePage came very close to an absolute majority this time. Maine is shifting steadily to the right under his governorship and he isn’t a wilting violet conservative.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maine_gubernatorial_election,_2014