As midterm elections draw near, GOP hand-wringers agonize over what appears to be the prevailing Republican candidate wisdom of remaining quiet on a GOP agenda.

They speculate it’s because Republicans don’t want to give opponents ammo; since Democrats are imploding (IRS-VA scandals, Iraq, Obamacare), just stay quiet.

But there is another reason…

…when you alienate big-money private interest, you loose the dogs-of-war…big time.

Case in point: the Obamacare insurance company bailouts, using taxpayer money.

You would think it’s a slam-dunk for Republicans – the Democrat healthcare plan calls for a gov’t bailout of insurance companies losing money…what taxpayers support that?

But campaign on an anti-bailout message, and the insurers start pouring huge money into Democrat campaigns, to run ads blowing an unwary GOPer out of the water.

The only way to neutralize that type of cash-funded backlash is if Republican PACs will match dollar-for-dollar ad spending with a rapid-response effort as well.

There’s a reason ‘money is the mother’s milk of politics’…ads cost millions of dollars.

The dustbin of failed politicians is full of political aspirants who conducted strong and  principled campaigns, but were woefully short on cash…and lost in the ad wars.

Those urging candidates to run on principle should put their money on the table. (Or, even better, give the candidate some distance…by running the ads themselves.)

Otherwise, your candidate wins a principled battle (anti-insurer bailouts, for example)…

…but loses a war (the advertising war)…and, ultimately, loses the election.

Better to have a GOP candidate who promises effective, consumer-centric reforms in a generalized campaign against the Obamacare law, and let PACs pinpoint attacks…

…lost plans, unavailable doctors, higher costs, insurance company bailouts, etc.

BlueCollar yearns for hard-nosed, strongly principled campaigns run by Republicans, but only if the resulting anti-GOP backlash ads can be effectively neutralized as well.

It’s a sad reality: those having better ideas often lose to those having deeper pockets.

Hey…if the ‘best ideas’ were vote guarantees…Democrats would never get elected.