My theory on this is that Republicans who are "savvy, articulate, hard-headed and hard-hitting candidates" are likely to be very successful in other walks of life and have no interest in taking on a job in Washington dealing with so many misfits and losers.
This is why it's made very clear in Plato's Republic that the ideal "philosopher king" is someone who has to be apprehended against his will to serve in that role. Socrates and Plato rightly concluded that anyone who wants the job should automatically be disqualified from ever holding it.
I think you may be on to something here.
Given the nature of politics as it’s played these days, it may well be that only an idiot would want to get involved.
Our side has to recognize immediately that the candidate from 2008 into the future must be nothing but a marketing product. The times have changed. We have put up excellent communicators that inspire voters and can deliver the message. It is not excellent administrators or proven executives. The voters don’t care. It is not war heroes. That last mattered in 1988. No one with military service has been elected since GHWB. He voters get 24/7 media now and the candidate has to be a media superstar. The work will get done in the congress while the White House is the strategy and media face. If we play the old way we will lose every time.