Agreed, Hunter had better principles than McCain, but the fact remains that in every poll taken, Hunter barely appeared on the radar. If the conservative base came full out for Hunter, well maybe, but could we win without the moderates in independents that probably would have been turned off by Hunter’s message?
No. The original failing was the GOP leadership's. They could have leaned on the RINO's and kept them from watering down the message. As it was, they tried to "out populist" the Dem's with an aging RINO and got massively pw3nd for it.