Sure - come up the middle and make the two extremes look pretty foolish.
Both the Republican and Democratic faithful have been ideologically boxed in. Neither will ever, ever go to the other side. Not ever. A populist would siphon off those folks.
The whole illegal immigrant thing is fascinating, though nobody wants to state the most obvious point: It can’t be halted. And even if by some miracle you do halt it, Mexico turns hugely unstable.