The only way Democrat presidential candidates have won Southern electoral votes is by being Southerners and masking their anti-American proclivities, i.e. Carter & Clinton. In 76, Carter won every single Southern State except VA. In 80, he lost every one but GA. Bubba diluted Bush Sr's Southern electoral strength and the same with Dole. Gore was rightly perceived as a faux Southerner and lost every Southern State, including his "home" state.
Remember Kristol was advising Dan Quayle & Bush Sr. in the 92 election.
Some comments on Nixon specifically. Nixon was more liberal socially and domestically. He picked Harry Blackmum who authored the infamous Roe V. Wade decision. He instituted wage & price controls and did some other things that compromised his conservative credentials. Then again he never had a Republican Congress to work with. Buchanan, I'm pretty sure thinks he had more influence on the GOP Presidents he served than he actually did. To give him credit, I think he came up with the "nittering nabobs of negativism" line for Agnew.
I forgot where I read this once. Essentially Nixon had no reason to think he was going to lose the '72 election to McGovern. If Nixon had disbursed campaign funds down to the congressional election rather than hogging them to acheive an electoral landslide, the Senate might have turned Republican. That would have meant no Sam Ervin.
As far as Lott. My problems with him began almost as soon as he became Majority Leader. He seemed to continuously get outfoxed by Daschle and the impeachment handling etc. convinced me the GOP was ill served by Lott as leader. That was long before the birthday gaffe. The gaffe was all the more perplexing to me because there was so much more Lott could have used to honor about Thurmond's life. His quixotic '48 election bid was not something I would use to commemorate him.
Kristol's support of McCain is all I need to know about Kristol. Everything I hear from him goes through that filter.