In a very small part you could attribute the loss to their inability to push the Conservative agenda, but the loss came mostly because of the media and the Left's relentless hammering of the Republicans and Bush over Iraq. People want to see a winning coach leading this nation. Their votes show they wanted a change not only in the coach but the starting players, the Republicans. They weren't doing the job.
I agree they weren't doing their job. Bush got bogged down in a situation which seemed to be going nowhere in Iraq - or at least the media so presented it - and the Administration didn't repsond.
There was also the continual hemorrhaging of our southern border and the flood of illegals the Administration apparently is STILL determined to provide amnesty to.
Add to that Dubai, Harriet Miers, and host of other incredible blunders, and the fall out fell on the only available targets - unfortunately.
But Bush II and Reagan BOTH were elected on conservative platforms. So, to a degree was his father the first time around. The Second time around his father was an old tired man and simply not fit to compete with Clinton. He was ALSO sandbagged by the much vaunted Greenspan who throttled a booming economy RIGHT before the election. Dole was pretty much a repeat performance.
The public needs someone who espouses traditional American values - however they are defined at the time, charisma, and an ability to effectively articulate his policies.
The current President has been a disappointment in many of those areas. His pre-emption concept was right on target, but he got sidetracked in Iraq and stalled out there before he finish the job with Iran and Syria. Now, his apparent new military moves there and concurrent attempts to try to cajole Ahmeddinejad (spelling) and the Baathist Syrians to buy into the plan to democratize a territory they are BOTh interested in seizing is nothing short of dumbfounding.
I wonder how Mr. Giuliani would handle the complexities of this current policy and the incredible mess that is mideastern politics. It is something with which he is totaly unfamiliar.