Memo to the GOP: you can win with Republican principles... and a sign the dems are in trouble.

Ever since the abysmal failure of the Romney and McKenna campaigns in 2012, the GOP at the national and local level has been running around in a panic, experimenting with determining how much more democrat they can become and what tenets of Republicanism can be jettisoned in an abortive effort to win elections... any election.

My position on all of this is simple: before the GOP bails on what is supposed to make them different from the democrats, maybe they should get competent.

"Competent" in this instance means "competent."

"Competent" in messaging.

"Competent" in communicating the message.

"Competent" in identifying your voters.

"Competent" in getting them to vote.  (GOTV)

In short, show competency in all of the things that the Romney and McKenna campaigns were INcompetent in.

What happens when you actually do that?

This:

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Obama Turnout Machine Crashes in San Diego — Loses Mayor’s Race by Nine Points

By John Fund

February 12, 2014 8:00 AM

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Kevin Faulconer recaptured the mayor’s office in San Diego for Republicans in a special election yesterday. The polls were skin-tight leading into yesterday’s election, and unions poured in millions to keep control in the nation’s eighth-largest city.

But in the end the vaunted Obama election model — flood the zone with negative attack ads and excite the base of the Democratic party — flopped. Faulconer defeated fellow City Council member David Alvarez by nine points in a city that Barack Obama carried by 63 percent to 37 percent only 15 months ago. 

Democrats were stunned at the margin. In the November open primary, Democrats had won 54 percent of the ballots cast and were convinced they could win the runoff between Faulconer and Alvarez. Unions pitched in a record $4.2 million to promote Alvarez, compared to only $1.7 million from business interests backing Faulconer. In the end, Alvarez outspent Faulconer in total by a million dollars.

Partly the Faulconer blowout was the result of the lower turnout of a special election called to replace disgraced Democratic Mayor Bob Filner.  But partly it came from a renewed ability of Republicans to reach out to independent and moderate voters with the need to practice fiscal restraint and sound management. “It’s been less than a decade since public-employee unions drove San Diego into near-insolvency, and people were reminded of that,” says Jason Roe, a political consultant in San Diego.

Certainly there was a clear contrast between the candidates. Alvarez was touted as the great progressive hope who in the words of the San Diego Union Tribune “supports raising the minimum wage, increasing developer fees for affordable housing projects and asking voters to approve the sale of bonds to fund infrastructure projects.” Faulconer was opposed to all of the above and also supported “putting certain city services up for competitive bid with the private sector [and] replacing pensions with 401(k)-style plans for most new city hires.”

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The lesson?

A competent campaign with the right message... a Republican message opposed to the ongoing fringe-leftism that seems to appeal to the GOP hierarchy so much... can win even in the deepest, darkest, bluest areas when done right.. and this one was done right.

Heed the lesson, GOPers.  Itr can be done if you're smart enough to do it.  And you don't have to turn your back on principles to make it happen.