Bye Bye Democrats

Carol Platt Liebau | December 08, 2011 1:31 PM

According to ABC News, voters in eight important swing states have been fleeing the Democratic Party in large numbers -- to the tune of 825,000 people in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

In those states, that means a total of 5.4% of Democratic voters left the party. But note, as well, that 3.1% of Republicans left their party.

Reportedly, this election is going to include more independents than any in the last half-century. So the question becomes: How do Republicans capitalize on that fact without jettisoning their principles?

The answer could come down to temperament -- an issue ably discussed, in the context of the two frontrunners, by NRO's Yuval Levin, a former Gingrich staffer.