OK, now you bring up a good point.
I have never, not once, said the GOP needs to “write off” the Christian Right. I realize you haven’t said that, but other posters on this thread have suggested that I have said such a thing.
What I said was a candidate with his lip totally, 100% pressed against the butts of the Dobson types turns off the other 80% of the GOP electorate that isn’t quite so strongly in that camp.
The right candidate needs to be able to balance himself. He (or she) must have a background of basic, American-values social conservatism that’s strong enough for evangelicals to accept but not coming across as a bible-thumper, so as not to turn off the libertarian wing...a strong, patriotic pro-American stance, and a fiscal and economic platform that is low-tax and pro-business, but still shows respect for the “little guy” at the same time. As much as a certain segment of the conservative movement hates to hear this, you are NOT going to win on a platform of banning contraceptives, censoring the Internet, or even legislating things like whether or not you can buy a Playboy at a truck stop.
Of anyone on the radar now, Fred Thompson fits that description better than anyone.
I wish someone would create a curriculum based on the 50+yrs of the National Review, Goldwater and Kirk and hand it to every would be Republican politician.