Both sides are missing something. The real way to get out of the loser's bracket is to articulate why conservative principles are good for everyone. I don't believe Rove can explain, because he's not a conservative. He's a quarterback who wants to lead any team that will take him, and he'll plan the plays for his team even though all he cares about is putting points on the board, quickly, which is not in itself a bad thing.
The problem is that in the long term we need to articulate our case or elections will continue to come down to a bidding war, which we will always lose. The far left will always promise more free stuff for the lazy than we are capable of matching. We have to offer a real opportunity to contribute and to advance on their own merits and explain why freedom is better than the coddled slavery that the left is aggressively imposing.
Good post!