[YankeeReb]

Who in the GOP makes these decisions?

In 2006 after Bush and the establishment GOP pushed for comprehensive immigration reform and the GOP lost control of congress. They went for the hispanic vote and ended up losing the conservative base.

In 2008 the GOP nominated conservative bashing , amnesty loving John McCain. They went for the mushy middle, rejected conservatism and lost again. Now we have a Kenyan /Marxist usurper in the WH and a wider socialist majority in congress.

Now we have 2010 coming up and they're showing every sign of repeating the same mistakes of the last 2 cycle. Is it Michael Steele who needs to be fired? I really don't know, but the GOP better stop following the country club model if they ever want to have power again.

[Alberta's Child]

Good post. It's worth noting that the dynamic of minor parties makes for some interesting scenarios in New York politics. Back in 1998, Republican incumbent Senator Al D'Amato deliberately snubbed the Right-to-Life Party during his race against Chuck Schumer. The RTL Party put up their own candidate instead of endorsing D'Amato as they had done in the past, and he ended up losing to Schumer by a margin smaller than the Right-to-Life Party candidate's vote total.