The problem is that the Republican party is poison in states with greater than 270 EVs, and that isn't going to change anytime soon.
The macro problem is that the "Reagan Democrats", who are the key to revival, hate the socons with such a passion that they won't even breathe the same air.
To have a successful coalition (all winning national parties are coalitions), this conflict has to be reconciled, somehow.
As the prop 8 vote in California and the Protestant Hispanic vote shows, the only way for conservatives to win the votes of Blacks and Hispanics, and the only way to stay/regain the top party position is to reach the democrats that are believers but do not understand how anti social conservative the democrats and the radical left are.
Ronald Reagan won by winning over the independents and democrats that finally saw just how anti social conservative and weak on defense the democrat party was.
I don't know this to be true. I know for a fact that the hard left hates social conservatives (and everyone right of center) with such a passion. I hardly believe that anyone who can be defined as a "Reagan Democrat" hates our side that much.
To have a successful coalition (all winning national parties are coalitions), this conflict has to be reconciled, somehow.
I think the answer is in your post. A strong, charismatic conservative, who can plainly articulate the simple, yet powerful truths of our message will draw people away from the corruption of the Democrat side. We now have two such people in our party who are capable of that, in the persons of Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann.