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“Some conservatives they are, then, if they’re willing to stay home and concede the whole ball of wax just because they don’t get the nominee they want.”

And that is “why” a focus on Senate and House races should happen, if the nominee is unpalatable for Conservatives that doesn’t mean we should not look for Congressional Candidates who are Conservatives.

Absolutely. My point is that a focus on Senate and House races is essential even if we do have a conservative candidate. Even if we re-animated Barry Goldwater and put him in office, it wouldn't matter much if the Democrats manage to build a veto-proof, or even just a filibuster-proof, majority in Congress.

Now, I'm realistic enough to know that a Republican majority in either house in the 111th Congress is all but out of reach; the numbers just don't add up any other way. However, that doesn't mean conservatives can't hold the line and plant the seeds for a comeback in 2010.

If anyone from the NRCC or the NRSC is reading, it's time to chuck the "local issues" garbage that helped ensure a GOP debacle in 2006 and run on a national conservative message that offers real solutions to the problems facing the country today. If the Presidential nominee is on board, great. If not, well, he's not the one running for Congress.

If conservatives don't articulate a plan, then the voters will assume that the "plan" for a Republican Congress is to continue with business as usual - and they'll be right! They showed what they think of business as usual in 2006, and, if the GOP doesn't want more of the same, they'd better shape up for next year.

All considered, 2007 has been a better-than-expected year for the Republican minority, but if they ever want to be a majority again, they're going to have to do more than simply frustrate the Democrats. They're going to have to demonstrate that they've learned their lesson from 2006, prove that they can be trusted to do what they were sent to Washington to do, and offer some real and specific alternatives to the Democrats' big-government, anti-American agenda.