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1980, 1984, 1994

By: Josh LeGuern (Diary)  |  January 22nd, 2012 at 01:47 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Following Romney’s proverbial “hiding” (as the Brits would say) by Newt Gingrich, It’s curious to me that we’ve been getting a slew of columns about how unelectable Newt supposedly is.

But this is always the argument of the moderate wing of the party: conservatism is too extreme to win, they say.

But let’s look at years where we won big:

1980 – Reagan 50.7% to 40.9% – 44 states

1984 – Reagan 58.8% to 40.6% – 49 states.

1994 (House)  - GOP (Gingrich) – 51.5% to 44.7% – + 54 seats (first time in 40 years GOP took the House)

Let’s look at years where we nominated moderate candidates:

1976 – Carter 50.1% to 48.1%

1988 – Bush 53.4% to 45.7%

1992 – Clinton 43% to 37.5%

1996 – Clinton 49.2% to 40.7%

2000 – Gore 48.4% to 47.9%

2004 – Bush 50.7% to 48.3%

2008 – Obama 52.9% to 45.7%

President Geroge H.W. Bush was riding the coat tails of President Reagan. Presidnet George W. Bush ran as a conservative and won his first term on a technicality. He won his second term because he united conservatives around the war on terror.

So where do moderates get the idea that conservatives lose races?

 

COMMENTS

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  • http://www.RightonMainSt.com Mike Merrill

    I think it’s both amusing and frustrating listening to media ‘experts’ opining that a conservative candidate can’t win because we need a moderate to win moderate votes. That’s simply not true.

    We need a candidate who will fire up voters?including both conservatives and moderates?not someone the mainstream media decides is electable. Vote for the candidate you believe in?not the candidate the party leadership or media pick for you.

    • APA Guy

      This is why Gingrich won Indies last night…and why he would be even better as a general election candidate. Often times, conservative candidates have difficulty with messaging. We’ll have no such problem with Newt at the top of the ticket.

  • conservativeparrothead

    You can win election one of three ways:

    1. Come up with great slogans, a somewhat limited voting record and win your base which isnt going to go anywhere anyway plus appeal to independents and those who are soft supporters of either party: Bush 43 with his only 4.5 years in office in Texas or Obama and his 2 years before he decided to run.

    2. Be able to have bold ideas and articulate the stark differences and convince AMERICANS why your way is better.

    3. Ride a coat-tail or overreaction to a major event: Carter (very anti-Washington after Watergate), Bush 43 Re-election (post 9/11), LBJ (JFK Assassination) and Bush 41 (Reagan Revolution VP).

    Reality is that most of the time, you have been in political life long enough to have a record that can be picked apart and perhaps is not ideologically pure, we all agree Reagan is the best President certainly post WWII, and yet his actions in California as Governor would have many questioning his ideological purity.

    The Three Remaining in the race are not ideologically pure, we know this, we know their faults. The question is which of the three way above can they ride to a victory and who has that skillset to get it done?

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