This isn’t 1980, dude. I live here. If 50% of us support someone, that person is a flaming socialist.
If so many people are liberal that only a liberal can win, the solution is to run a conservative who can communicate so that we can convince them they are wrong OR draw conservatives from the half of the population that doesn’t vote now.
Either we win and turn the tide, or we lose, in which case after the liberal fails our country, people will learn their lesson like they did in 1994 and we win back. A hard lesson, but better than giving in to stupidity and giving them only a liberal to choose from.
I can’t imagine THAT pitch in 2016 : “Vote for republicans, we stuck you with 8 years of failed liberalism just to own the white house”