Billy, I agree most elections are lost due to strategic and tactical mistakes that have zero to do with ideology. Look at our IL. Both RINO Dold and TeaParty Walsh would have won if they had run smart campaigns. But they made stupid mistakes. Hopefully Walsh will learn from his mistakes. But so far, I see no indication of it.
Sick, you mention 2 factions of the party. I’d like to think that there is a 3rd faction: People who are both good on the issues and tactically smart.
At his open house today, Jim Oberweiss seems to have learned from his tactical mistakes of the past.
There are more than few here who will say they don't car if Dems win and get everything they want, that saying ‘no’ all the time to everything is more important than anything that happens to this country. There are a few that will even admit they want Dems to win and win and win so this country breaks out into civil war.
Back ~2004 to 2005 when Rs were in the majority and Bush was re-elected the liberals in the Dem party were completely demoralized I created an account on Democrat FR type website (not DU, an earlier one) to play with them.
Because I knew what their arguments were and what they were saying I was able to very successfully play ‘principled uber liberal’ in my posts.
My mission was to get them worked up demanding all sorts of liberal demands to the D party that would p.. voters off.
Then when the Dem party fell short of their expections (some I created) I would post that the Dem party are cowards and sell outs and that we (they) should stop voting at all.
My goal was to be as outrageous as I could without getting booted, so I watched carefully what the mods rejected.
It was really fun and I learned how to get inside the enemies (progressives) heads by understanding what they wanted.
In 2007 Pelosi took the House but she was smart enough to NOT do what I recommended, she played her hand carefully looking to 2008. If she had listened to the Dem crazies 2008 never would have happened.
More recently I did a couple of extra-normal vids posted on youtube making fun of Dems arguments because I know what they really are, and I pick the really stupid sounding ones.
I would be loathe to give Oberweis another crack at higher office.
What were some of Dold’s and Walsh’s campaign mistakes? Which Republicans will run, in those districts, in 2014? I live in the 10th District. I asked Norm Hill, State Sen. Dan Duffy, State Rep. Joann Osmond, Lake Co. Clerk Willard Helander, and James Mitchell (a congressional candidate, in the 8th Dist. in 2008) to run for Congress, in the 10th District, and Duffy said that he’ll consider it.