<p>I’m not so sure that the winning party has won [excepting Reagan] in the past twenty-five years as it is that the losing party has simply lost the election. Running Dole, for example, simply because he “deserved” the nomination was a huge mistake. The same might be said of Gore. </p>
<p>Republicans have not won because of money as much as Democrats have lost because of lifeless candidates that could not articulate a clear position. See Kerry. Until the Democrats eschew the liberal extremes, they will continue to lose elections. There are simply more Republican apostles [See the Republican quoted as saying she would not vote for Jesus if he ran as a Democrat] than there are Democrat believers. [Who probably wouldn’t vote for Jesus simply becuase they would be concerned about separation of church/state issues.]</p>
<p>One might say that it is easier to throw some red meat to the true believers; just say, for example, that you are against abortion, big government, deficits, etc. and Republicans will vote for you regardless of whether you actually follow through on your stated beliefs. See Bush. </p>
<p>Democrats, however, demand such obsequiousness from candidates that any “true beliefs” a candidate may have gets buried in attempts to satisfy everybody. See Gore, Kerry, Dukakis, etc.</p>
<p>The President simply reflects the population as a whole. If you don’t like what you see in the President, just look in the mirror. At the end of the day, LFWB probably has it right: People vote for whom they like and would like to be around.</p>