PBS special on Rove - recruiting conservative Democrats

[TexasSissy]

I saw today part of the PBS special on Carl Rove, with commentary by the Dallas Morning News guy who co-wrote the book, "Bush's Brain."

I watched the part that discussed the rise of the Republicans in Texas. Texas was in the 1970s and before a Democratic state. The governor, the legislature, the local politicians were primarily Democratic. Rove is one of the ones primarily responsible for taking that situation and turning it into a Republican state.

One of the things I noticed in Rove's description of how he did this was that he talked of two key candidates they recruited from the Democratic side. They were conservative Democrats, popular, articulate, successful. One of the things they told the Dems was that since they were conservative Democrats, they had no future in the Democratic Party, so they might as well go over to the Republican side, and Rove would put the GOP machine behind them. They went. It happened. One of those guys is Rick Perry, current Texas governor. Reagan had been a Democrat, also, who was courted and won by the GOP.

I thought this was very interesting. I thought it would be worthwhile asking the question: How could the Democratic Party manage to keep its more conservative members, thereby preventing the Repubs from picking off the winners that appeal to middle America? And...should the Dem. Party work at keeping its more conservative members?

(edited for typo)