Here is the real issue -democrats - at least those in the south - have picked up on this. Heath Shuler won convincingly in North Carolina as a pro-life, democrat. There are other of these “blue dog” democrats in the south. If the dems figure out that they can have their big-government wishes by simply expunging the pro-choice dogma of their party, Republicanism as we know it is dead. Many social conservatives, especially those from the historically democratic south, are not dogmatic on fiscal conservatism. They vote pro-life.
In fact, Obama has tapped into this already. I know of several younger social conservatives who are supporting him, as they want to believe he is not truly pro-choice. If Bob Casey was on the ticket this year against Romney or Guiliani, he would win the election in a landslide.
Republicans need to keep the coalition together, fiscal, foreign policy and social conservatives, in order to win national elections. If any one of these were to bolt the party in droves, the dems have won.
Since the 'Rat party has been 'bought and paid for' by Soros and the Moveon.org types, the 'blue dogs' will never be more than a marginal force. So the one-issue voters that voted for the pro-life 'Rat are screwed, because the 'San Francisco values' crowd that runs the party and sets its agenda will see to it that no abortion restriction ever even gets considered. And if a 'Rat becomes POTUS next year, he/she will appoint leftist judges that will set Roe v. Wade in granite.
If the so-called 'pro-life voters' would really give it some thought, they'd realize that any Republican, no matter where he or she stands on the issue, would be better than the 'Rat.
I've stayed away from FR for several weeks but based on what I'm seeing here today, my guess is that Republicans will continue their downward slide until they regain their moral footing.