Bush Light

Ryan beat me to the response, but didn't use the argument I thought he would.

We had a ton of posts, prior to and immediately after the election of 2008 concerning where the Republican Party needed to go. McCain was Dem Light, the voice of moderation, the list of compromises and aisle crossing cooperation a mile long. Obama was the "Yes we can!" guy, the damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead, screw compromise when I have the super majority in the Legislative Branch guy. He said as much throughout his campaign.

The same argument can be made for Al Gore in 2000. If you were happy with 8 years of Clinton, Gore was your guy. And in a very close vote he loses to change, to a more conservative voice, to someone untainted by scandal and a tarnished image. And Bush Jr. didn't come out Clinton bashing, he came out telling the people that he was going to slash taxes, curb gov't spending and power the nation out of the recession we were in. Clinton light lost. Just like Bush light did 8 years later.