Republicans Only: What should our Party be?

[Nym90]

I think that ideological, center vs. left or center vs. right, intrastate battles miss the point, at least if the argument is about "which ideology gives us a better chance of victory?". Voters vote on the basis of results moreso than they do theories.

On the one hand, moderates have the advantage of appealing to certain voters that more extreme candidates cannot. You have to at least get an audience before you can have a chance of your message resonating, and moderates are able to get a larger audience.

On the other hand, more extreme candidates have the advantage of a more enthusiastic and mobilized base, which is more certain to turn out and perhaps more willing to stay loyal through tough times.

So, in the aggregate, these two factors generally tend to cancel each other out, generically speaking. Obviously individual candidates strengths and weaknesses are another matter.

But that's my point; most voters don't care about ideology that much (as long as the candidate is perceived as sane, anyway). They care more about results (or lack thereof) and that there is at least a reasonable effort being made to improve things, as opposed to just digging in one's heels and saying no to everything.