You start by offering a clear, conservative agenda to voters, regardless if the sniveling Democrats and the MSM call you a mean-old Republicans.
You don't do it by co-opting socialist ideas and alienate your supports to appeal to people who will vote for the Dim anyway.
This is why Reagan's two elections and the GOP in the 1994 mid-terms racked up landslides. That's why the GOP is often referred to as the "Stupid Party." If they just run a center-right agenda, they wouldn't be losing conservative voters.
"You start by offering a clear, conservative agenda to voters"
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Hellooooo!!!
THAT is exactly what Arnold did with the special elections, and the conservatives stayed home and his reform propositions went down in flames.