[MuttGrunt]

^ i agree
i'm not a conservative, only a moderate (hope i can still post here!), but i see a lot of problems for the republicans
i think the main thing, as stated, is getting back to their roots - and staying true to them. u can't claim small federal government and states rights, but then try to support a constitutional ammendment against gay marriage like bush did. thats not a republican move. you can't say smaller federal government but then have the federal government go on a record spending spree. one or the other. in addition, will the more moderate conservatives begin to dominate, or will there be a stronger push to the right?
i think some of the problems that party is going through are due to the mix of conservative minds with the parties ideas. they need to stay true to the party- not the political right / religious right. party ideas need to come before and above religion or conservativeness. if they start to once again really stick with their party ideas, i think they'll gain a lot more support, rather than trying to justify their stance with religion - justify it with the party ideas.
an example is "roe v wade should be overturned because the federal government shouldn't make those choices. individual states should chose what is permitted." that is more of a sound arguement than "my religion says its murder" which just doesn't stand, because not all people believe a fertilized cell is a human, nor are all of us the same religion.

overall - back to the parties core values, and staying away from the religous right are the things i think they need to do to become popular again