The formula that works is conservativism. The political consultants all want to go for the mushy middle but there are many more conservatives than must people realize and that the polls uncover. Look at talk radio, that is your poll. Someone with the guts to run on a strong conservative platform will win. Most give in to the mushy middle who then stay home while the unions turn out the Democrat base.
I absolutely agree. The political pundits (or numnuts) and liberal, left-wing MSM are ALWAYS are pushing, advocating, critiquing Republicans to "turn left, young man (or woman), turn to the center, you gotta reach out to the soft mushy center." I believe they recommend & write this crap because they KNOW that if a conservative Republican ran a strong, principled, unapologetic, conservative campaign, that candidate would bury the liberal opposition. Yet time and time again, the RNC leadership and top Repuke gurus fall for that line over and over. When will they ever learn? With just that one strongly worded speech last week and his (finally) good SCOTUS appointment of Alito, President Bush has recaptured much of the support from the conservative majority base. I wish the Republicans would realize that the more they turn left and reach for the mushy center, the worse they do....but when they reach out and act on conservative principles, they win and build majorities.
When the state falls into the Atlantic under the burden of high taxes, regulation, and corruption maybe a conservative will win.