It was in Reagan's Administration.
Oops, posted the wrong one:
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0101271.html
Folks,
You're all missing the key data out election night.
The exit polls said the most important factor in why people voted as they did was NOT immigration, abortion and was NOT Iraq.
It was corruption scandals.
Also, the Democrats who took the GOP seats are anti abortion and pro gun conservatives. Some were even pro Bush on Iraq.
They Got Elected Because Of The Corruption Scandals.
So stop this philosophical wastage of time. There is no value at all in analyzing how far to move the party right or left.
Spend your time creating spreadsheets for these Democrats who claim to be conservative and track every one of their votes -- and then send that data to their district newspapers. Every single time they try to vote with Democrats, punish them.
They will either switch parties, drag the DNC to the right, or not even bother to unpack when they move to DC because any squeaky clean true GOP candidate will be back in that seat in 2008.