>>> they support the GOP nominee when he/she is decent, but challenge the GOPers in certain races with bad candidates. This is a sensible hybrid that has a chance of working and winning.
The key I think is focusing efforts on the primaries.
Most voters don’t even bother with primaries because they simply trust the establishment (and other repubs) to find the best candidate for the general election.
Voter turnout in most primaries should be a national disgrace... it’s what gives activist groups like gays and environmentalists the power that they have... while republicans just assume that the GOP has it’s back.
When we get out of the general election mentality, and focus on the front end of the election cycle, we might find out how much REAL power we actually have.
RINO wins primary, well not lifting a finger to help and maybe support opposition. Just some payback for those election cycles RINOs stabbed conservatives in the back after losing in the primary (Lugar is exhibit 1) Payback is definitely a Hillary
I agree that primaries are more important for conservatives to get involved in in order to win. For example, Peter King could be taken out in a primary by a small but dedicated group of people and a halfway decent candidate. There are about 150,000 registered Republicans in his district. Republican primary participation is around 10-12%. With the closed primary system, you only 9000 votes against him to knock him out. This could be done under the radar with a few thousand dollars and a lot of door knocking and telephoning.