It's as plain as the nose on our face. All three 'Pub defections were from states in the deepest of blue regions of the country. In an average election year, a TrueconservativeTM simply isn't going to win these days in those states. The demographics are against us; we simply don't have a broad base of support in those states anymore. The 'Pubs who have traditionally been successful candidates in those states have been liberal-moderate. A TrueconservativeTM who only appeals to the hardcore conservative base will win maybe 10-20 of the vote. We're seeing the same thing happening in places like CA and the Midwest. The demographics have shifted tremendously in the last 10-15 years.
Talent didn’t lose because Missouri is liberal. Talent lost because he shut up, unexpectedly, and tried to be gentlemanly. In addition, Claire ran as a country girl, something she hasn’t been for decades, which got her more outstate vores than a liberal normally gets. Add to that the reluctance of the bishops to criticize her by name as pro-death and she gets the Catholic vote.
one-two-three.
The Pubbies had better realize there’s more to being elected than ideas and more to governing than consensus and reason.
True-People on this board talk about Voinivich who did not vote for the stimulus like he’s a dog. However, I’m telling you a moderate will win in Ohio, but not a ‘true conservative’ GOP. We are going to get another Dem otherwise. We need to run moderate candidates in liberal moderate areas. It was RINO’s and conservatives who formed the Reagan coalition...and let’s not forget the Reagan Dems who were blue collar workers-many union. If you don’t want to lose the Mid West entirely better make trade more fair also.
Rampant hyperinflation by 2012 will render every single word you said utterly moot, except for one — “Reagan”.