Which Kind of Candidate Would You Rather Have?

[Free Bird]

This is a quiet point of contention between me and my RTC. A lot of them, going into the Republican Convention, supported Peter Lumaj for governor, who fit all of their True Conservative (TM) criteria. My RTC is definitely more conservative than the average moderate Connecticut Republican, so their support for him had me worried. I implied, but never outright said, that being ideologically pure is worthless if you're bound to lose, which Lumaj, who is openly socially conservative, would have, and that it's foolish to have such ridiculous standards which are tone-deaf to the overall mood of the electorate you're trying to appeal to.

I, by contrast, am willing to take a candidate who could agree with/accomplish 40-60% of what I want but actually stand a chance of winning, hence my support of Erin Stewart before she dropped out of the Governor race.

Which do you prefer? Would you rather die on the hill of ideological purity or win and get at least some of what you want?