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What conservatives need to do is start matching up the intensity of elected officials' ideological conservatism with that of the voters in a particular state or district. Stop worrying about Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, who come from relatively leftist Maine, and start worrying about RINOs in conservative states and so-called "conservative" Democrats -- there are twenty-three of them in the Senate -- who come from states that Bush and McCain both carried in the last three elections (thirteen senators from North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Arkansas, Louisiana, West Virginia, Missouri, Montana, and Alaska.)
Conservatives should look very closely at "moderate" Democrats from states that Bush carried in 2000 and in 2004 (ten senators from Virginia, North Carolina, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Indiana, and Florida.) Conservatives should wonder why the thirteen "moderate" Democrats came from states that Bob Dole carried in 1996, Bush carried in 2000, and Bush carried again in 2004.
Conservatives can win if they begin to do what Democrats decided to do a couple of election cycles ago: ignore the Democrat equivalent of "RINOs" -- senators like Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu -- and instead begin to get candidates elected who are as far left as a particular state or district will tolerate. The resulting Congress is far left of America.
Republicans should follow the same strategy. They should kick out RINOs in conservative state, like Arizona, and pat the heads of RINOs from states in which no clear conservative will win, like Maine. But the real political obstacle to conservatism is all of those "moderate" Democrats with voting records far to the left of any RINO, who come from states and districts that even awful Republican candidates like McCain and Dole were able to carry. When members of Congress, regardless of party label, begin to reflect the true ideology of their constituents, conservative principles will prevail.
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