Originally posted by Sixpence
There is a silver lining here, the dems that won lean to the center, their strategy was to embrace the center. The arrogance of the republicans towards the center is what did them in, they have no one to blame but themselves. With this strategy in mind, I cannot see how they can allow hillary a run at the White House. So, no hillary in 2008
It is NOT the center that cost the Republicans the most, it is the conservative base. The Republicans spent too much, and continued to do so. They also shifted spending towards social programs. They're too soft on illegal aliens. And they have failed to prosecute the war in Iraq and on terrorism in general aggressively enough. It is actually their attempts to cater to and pacify the center and left of center that has cost them. The true conservative base is disenchanted with the Republican party.
That's not to say that the center was not part of it. You cannot alienate the conservative base without also affecting the center that is somewhat conservative, even if only on a few issues. You are correct that the center was part of it. It was the scandals and the poor progress on the war that really had the biggest effect on the center. But those issues also bothered the conservative base, and coupled with the spending and illegal aliens, among other things, caused a large rift in the base, and they were simply not motivated in many cases.
Whether or not Hillary runs depends largely on how the Democrats are able to keep their momentum. The one thing she will not do is run when she has no chance. If the momentum of the Democrats falters, and the Republicans put up a decent candidate, Hillary won't run. Now, it may be said that they didn't run her for any number of reasons. But in order for her to run, the Democrats have to be on a serious roll, as she is so divisive a candidate that she has no chance unless the Democrats are on top and out in front by a large margin. She is NOT the centrist her husband was. Therefore, they cannot count on the center vote. The center vote most be so disenchanted with the right, and the right must be so crushed, that neither can muster enough vote to keep her out.
