In more secular more cosmopolitan states, the GOP needs more David Cameron types, and it has next to none, due to issue and cultural divisions that split US politics these days. The GOP only gets in the hunt when the Dems over reach. The problem is that in these states, the GOP needs to win over secular voters with more "relaxed" social views who are moderate to right of center on economic issues, and absent a lot of angst, they don't.
Exactly, in the less religious states the party needs to become social centrists with right of center economic values. That or simply not talk about social issues. In terms of over reaching I have the feeling that the dems may be doing so simply by being in power for so long (the last Republican governor was around 25 years ago). Though honestly Washington democrats have in many ways been clever in not reaching too far and self-moderating themselves in order to try the big-tent approach.
It seems to me they need to find a Scott Brown or Olympia Snowe to type, but it doesn't sound like there any, correct?
There's
maybe one or two I can think of in the Legislature right now. Sam Reed (Secretary of State) might be electable in a Senate race but no one really knows how moderate he actually is and he's never even considered running for anything else as far as I know.
All the others have either lost, retired or switched to the Democrats.
