[Big_Monkey]

"You do? How did Reagan get a majority in '80 and '84, and the GOP Congress in '94 then?

The short answer is that it was a different country in 1980. In the nearly 30 years since Reagan first came to power, the country's demographics have changed remarkably.

The fact of the matter is John McCain won 55% of the white vote and still lost the election. The country isn't getting more white, quite the opposite. In 2012 it is not at all unlikely that a GOP nominee could get 58% or even 59% of the white vote and still lose if the GOP doesn't begin to perform better with Latinos, Asians and yes even blacks.

Moreover, the Republican conservative base is getting older every elections cycle, and frankly is dying off. The GOP can't afford to continue to spot the opposition 35 points in the youth vote (18-29) and expect to compete moving forward. It has nothing to do with ideology and everything to do with mathematics.

[deport]

It has nothing to do with ideology and everything to do with mathematics.

---

It’s getting harder every cycle to find the numbers to gain the necessary 270 EC votes needed to win the Presidency. The states are changing just as the composite national scene is changing. But that has been the evolution of this world since the first single cell crawled out of the ocean onto dry land and started dividing. Evolution and adaptation are the facts we deal with.

[meandog]

Moreover, the Republican conservative base is getting older every elections cycle, and frankly is dying off. The GOP can't afford to continue to spot the opposition 35 points in the youth vote (18-29) and expect to compete moving forward. It has nothing to do with ideology and everything to do with mathematics.

Exactly! But you're wasting your time trying to explain it to the die hard conservative purists around here. Their idea of a "big GOP tent" is somewhere between David Duke and Rush Limbaugh--all others, despite their beliefs in limited government, need not apply for membership!

[HailReagan78]

The fact that 45% of whites voted for Obama to begin with is the problem itself.

Deluding ourselves into thinking that anything more than 8 or 10% of blacks will vote GOP (without us switching our positions on affirmative action) is nuts.

Same with the Hispanic vote. The Rats are going to push amnesty again in the very near future, and will secure the vast majority of the Hispanic vote for the foreseeable future.

SO our only options would be to side with the dems on immigration and affirmative action, in the hopes of maybe getting an extra 5 points among Blacks and Hispanics....

Or stick to our principles and get the white vote up to 65% or so.