“but unless they can grow the appeal of the anti-party candidate beyond 30% in the Republican Party they’re not going to take over the party”
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May be true, but the GOPe cannot win a general election without the Southern Conservatives.
I’m not sure what your anti-party candidate is, but it is clear that the Anti-Big-DC is a winning perception.
And no one is taking about the cross-over of Dems to GOP in the IA primary. That was a major contributor to the outcome in IA. Was that engineered by Trump followers, or the ComDems themselves? Or both? Remember Thad Cockran?
I think most Southerners underestimate -- have no idea -- how much wealthy and Eastern Republicans despise and loathe them. Their loathing has more levels than La Scala. And it goes back to the 17th century.
The GOP-E threw two elections just to get rid of employer-paid healthcare. So you've no idea what they'll do to make sure someone like Ted Cruz or Mike Huckabee or Richard Shelby never sees the inside of the White House.