Where do you see the GOP gaining on the map?

[paul718]

They can't do that because the christians will make and new party and split the vote. Their obsession over abortion and gay marriage is getting pathetic.

if the gop keeps catering to dixie evangelicals it'll become increasingly weaker and weaker

Because John McCain is a Dixie evangelical.  And I don't recall abortion or gay marriage being significantly discussed during this election. 

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The way things are now, the GOP cannot win a national election without the support of the vast majority of white Evangelicals. To pretend otherwise is to indulge in a fantasy that usually seems rooted in some, frankly, bigoted opinions. Now, the amount of attention Republican candidates give to these people (compared to other groups) is a different, very different actually, matter and one that might interesting in the years to come.

[Matt Damon™]

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

[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.  
 

[pbrower2a]

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

Black evangelicals don't vote like white evangelicals; they are either urban or they are rural poor. Hispanic Catholics heavily vote their economic interests because they are urban or suburban -- which means that they vote heavily Democratic this time. Mexican-Americans tend to be very conservative on law and order issues -- but law and order itself draws them into the Big Government interests.

The GOP absolutely must redefine itself if it is not to find itself shrinking a little more every year. The white Evangelical/Fundamentalist segment of the population has peaked. Rural America is not going to grow faster than non-rural America.