I take it you don't think Iraq was the major chord in the chorus of why the GOP got wacked, with too many instances of personal corruption a minor chord. Would that be a correct surmise?
I think too many people on the left and right believe that the Republican party does not represent them. It is said that the political arena is made up of 30% die hard conservatives, 30% die hard liberals and 40% in the middle. The personal corruption certainly didn't help, but the GOP leadership tried to acquire that 40% in the middle with the presumption that the 30% die hard conservatives would back them no matter what. What they just found out was that they may have gotten that 40% in the middle, but the lost the other 60%.