I am very concerned about this movement to the center and frankly I'm not certain what to do about it other than to complain loudly while trying to pull it back.  I would never go so far as to say that moderates should not vote with the Republican Party--I encourage moderates to vote Republican--but I will never understand the benefit of Republicans coddling a liberal leaning Republican (former) like Arlen Specter over a true conservative.  

I agree that we have some demographic issues here, some of which you have pointed out.  I also think that Republicans have lost out in the educational system.  Everything a good progressive needs to know can be learned by about the third grade while it usually takes several years of hard adult knocks to learn the principles behind conservativism.  

I also believe the Republicans are suffering from the backlash of a party that abandoned the spending restraint portion of the Contract With America.  

I am one of those former contributors to the Republican Party that stopped sending in checks when it forgot how to veto spending bills.  When Republican Senators and Representatives floated to the top of the earmarks pool I became disgusted.  When Republicans began wooing the Hispanic population by hinting at amnesty I blanched.  (A true man can blanch, can't he?)  When Republicans began saying the budget had no more fat in it (when we were running a $300,000,000,000 deficit) my blood pressure began to rise.  Which party was it that backed No Child Left Behind and the Medicaid Prescription Drug Benefit Program? The Republicans, of course. How else could I protest than to send in my empty envelope with a note in it?

I still agree with the Republicans a lot more than I do the Democrats, but I simply cannot trust them.  Maybe this is my problem and not the party's.  My guess is that it is a shared dilemma.  

So, when and if you finally locate your lost Republican Party can you please check around for mine too?  Maybe they drink coffee together.