Where do you see the GOP gaining on the map?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

What social views would you have them moderate? If they abandoned gay marriage and abortion, they'd collapse. Stem cells and the other social issues are too minor to make a big difference.

They could be for Civil unions. But if I ran the GOP I would tell them to leave Marriage and Abortion up to the states. Have the people vote on it and leave it at that. Why should a states like MA and MS have the same laws about them things when they have different views on them.

If the GOP becomes Social Moderates but stay Fiscally Conservative, where do people like me go?

If they take off the Abortion and Gay Marriage debate then if you wanted vote on fiscally views, then Democrats.

Good lord, why are you rejecting your base (working class Christians) for a bunch of corporate dickheads? That is just asking to be pounded.

Being fiscally conservative does not mean you are a corporate dickhead. Last time I check most fiscal conservatives opposed the bailout(Small Gov't duh) while liberals and populists for the most part supported it. Whose the dickhead now. Last I checked the Georgia Delegation is full off Conservatives both on fiscal and social issues(people like Gingrey, Price, Westmorland, Linder and Kingston. Broun is Paulite libertarian. Isakson is more of a Libertarian and Chambliss is no populist) Even your homeboy Mike Huckabee is not a real populist, he just runs as one and is a stupid left wing media lover for doing so.

So where is this populist base. Last I checked the Republicans only picked up social issues to peel off the big Gov't loving south and Blue Collars(which had floated back to the Dems after Watergate and race issues died down). The South has changed since 1978. Suburbs dominate many of these states and prefer the GOP limited Gov't approach. There is no populist sect in the GOP, because its main core belief is limited Gov't with responsibility and morality reinforcing it. Limited Gov't is what kept conservatism alive even in the darkest days of the Depression. It would be unnatural for the GOP to turn populist since like the people I mention above are conservative on both issue groups.  The closest thing to a populist movement in America is the Blue Dog Democrats but even they are for balanced budgets and at one time low taxes.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

The GOP will continue making gains in the South Central region, as well as the Plains and Nothern Mountain states(MT,UT,ID, and WY). I disagree that the GOP is at risk hear. Beyond crazies losing seats any sane GOPer could hold I don't see much risk, except MT which has always been willing to elect Dems in state races. 

However and this is where I think a populist turn would kill us. We need to make gains among Suburbs specifically, not exactly big Gov't lovers. They dominate VA, NC, FL, AZ, NV, and CO in the sun belt. In the rust belt OH, MI, NH, and PA. We also need to go after working class voters and Hispanics. Getting 20 to 30% of the black vote would not be a bad idea to alteast reduce danger of increased black turn out drownding our candidates(Hayes, Chabot). The only way the GOP does this is to return to being the party of Accountablility, balanced budgets, and limited Gov't while maintaining Social Conservative positions.

Republicans need to come up with new ideas on issues like Education and Health Care. The GOP needs to do better at relating issues to people. Its easy to say spending needs to be cut or taxes lowered but not why? Is easy to say education is broken but hard to come up with solutions. Minorities really care about Education and Health Care as do those
Suburbanites.

Lastly Republicans need to relearn how to win elections. They need to organize better, get more volunteers and donations, and lastly discover the Internet, no pun intended. The GOP is 15 years behind the times in turns of GOTV and organization.

If they get smart the GOP has a good chance of gaining in the Midwest, Southwest and Southeast merely based on GOP recovering lost ground there, and holding the South central, Great Plains(ND through OK) and Northern MTS states(WY, ID, MT, and UT). GOP would also see a slight increase in performance in Northeast. Returning to >6 seats in NY and having atlest 6 in NJ, Maintaning 9 minimum in PA and at least 3 in New England.

If they do none of the above its hard  to see any gains beyond the South unless its a very GOP district or state that becomes open UT-02 or Dakota Senate Seats, or regaining very REpublican districts CO-04 and ID-01.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

to be long-term competitive the republicans need to try gaining black evangelicals and brown catholics and generally trying to get the nonwhite vote

remember, most nonwhites are quite socially conservative

I agree but its hard to do anything when even a slight move to expand is viewed as a threat to one side of the party or the other when they don't have to be.

Social Conservatives don't really have much to complain about. Fiscal Conservatives got the short end of the stick out of the past 8 yrs. With talk off more and more bailouts and more and more spending and stimulus non of which is supported by a majority or even a plurality of voters many are in a limited Gov't mood. 80% according to Rasmussen fear Gov't will go to far in responding to the economic crisis. thats up from 55% a few weeks ago. When most Republicans who are Full spectrum conservatives like me, Mitt Romney, Mike Pence, etc say the party has abandoned its principle they are not advocating going anyfurther to the right on social issues but on Economic policy. Which I beleive is where they need to go.  The days of the Populism are done and gone. People just don;t trust the Fed Gov't with that much money and I see little in the polling that says otherwise. 63% say Gov't should cut taxes to boast the economy rather then spend on another Stimulus package. How many think OBama is going to cut taxes?

As for Huckabee I think the guy is a misguided Republican who makes irresponsible decisions just to make the media love him. While not a populist in the Huey Long mold he is very much to the left on economic policy. You don't build a highway to stimulate the economy. Highways take years to build, hardly a stimulus for current economic problems. They add to the debt which is higher now then ever before. Thats not where the GOP is heading and thats not the country is heading either.

Because it was asked I will define my definition of a populist. In my view they are big Gov't Liberals who happened to be Socially Cosnervative. They may very slighlty but are oftten rejects from the other party. The reason I despise populism is the fear of using big Gov;t to enact soical enginneering to achieve socially conservative goals. They are too stupid to see that big Gov't intervention always sets a precendent future leaders to follow and there successor might not share the same visions. I also dislike the threat of the cult of personality that tends to form around populists and the following of zealots it creats. Anybody with a private Army like Huey Long is a threat to Democracy.