We tried this during primary season, and we were vilified, denounced, and denigrated by many folks right here on Free Republic.
Our candidate was espousing radical, extremist ideas like sound currency... a non-interventionist foreign policy such as Bush talked about during his own presidential debates... adherence to the Constitution... Article I Section 8 limits on Federal power and spending... confining the Census bureau to its mandate of counting, instead of demographic surveys... and so on.
But when young, energetic supporters of our candidate packed venues that would otherwise have drawn a handful of doddering party regulars, those regulars got pissed off instead of excited. When we shattered one-day online fundraising records, it still wasn’t enough to stem the tide of criticism.
The GOP lost a big chance by failing to tap into this vein of excitement about individual liberty and personal responsibility, and putting up a RINO like McCain.