Got an interesting phone call today in response to my most recent column in the Camden Herald, entitled What is a Republican to do? The gentleman that called, a Camden resident, described himself as center-left politically, voting for Democrats, he suspected, about two-thirds of the time. He volunteered that he had, however, voted for Susan Collins and our newest State Senator-to-be, Chris Rector, and agreed with me that the GOP had botched things in Washington and had lost touch with the working class, and was in dire need of some years in the wilderness to sort out what exactly it is that the party stands for. He also agreed that their remain a number of questions about coming Obama presidency, including whether Obama would indeed govern as he had campaigned, as a “post-partisan” centrist who would govern from the middle.
My sense is that the caller is one of many that have shifted center-left of late, but who, if convinced the GOP could govern more effectively and more from the center, would come back over to our side, especially if Obama overreaches. Before us, then, is the great question before the conservative movement – move more to the center or more to the right?
