I’m not sure about that. Keep in mind two things about the 2006 election. First of all, the winning Democrats who took Republican seats were mostly “blue dog Democrats,” posing as conservatives.
Second, by that time, Bush and the RINOs in congress were already starting to offend a lot of conservatives and religious voters. I think the voters were stupid to take it out on solid conservatives like Rick Santorum, but I don’t think the reason the Dems did so well was that the electorate was less conservative. The reason was that the party was already thumbing its nose at the base.
1)I hope you are right.
2)I was truly upset to see some many good conservatives lose their jobs in 2006; good conservatives like Rick Santorum, Jim Talent, George Allen, et al.