The Democrats ran a terrible campaign in 2000, just like they did in 2004. They pussyfooted around, looked ambivalent, and lost to the worst president we've ever had TWICE. You can't blame the voters any more than an ugly girl can blame the judges for losing the beauty contest.
I'd say both sides were trying to steal the center as Bill Clinton so masterfully did in 1992 and 1996, hence the "pussyfooting" and "ambivalence."
I'm going to vote for John McCain on Feb 5 and Nov 5. I'm a fiscal, economic, foreign & defense policy conservative, and McCain will be a refreshing change from the Southern religious conservatives that have dominated the Republican Party for the past two decades or so. I see a dead-end in that brand of conservatism, and I believe a McCain victory will transform the Republican Party and bring it back to its roots.
As a member of my forum so aptly put it, "Rush and all the attack dogs calling into question McCain's conservatism have created a set of strawmen on which to base your judgement. You say, 'this is what a conservative is; McCain is not that; therefore he is not a conservative.'"