John McCain's New Hampshire miracle seems to thoroughly validate that "moderation" model. Seemingly every talking head in Washington agrees that voters — even Republican voters — don't want tax cuts and don't want "risky schemes" for Social Security. Instead, they allegedly want fiscal moderation — meaning Eisenhower-style debt retirement — with the multi-trillion dollar tax surplus.

Not so fast. The Washington-based Club for Growth just released findings from a Zogby poll of 1,000 Republican voters that every GOP office-seeker should read and then memorize. The poll verifies that if the GOP de-emphasizes its core cluster of growth issues, its conservative base will evaporate.

One question asked: How likely would you be to turn out to vote in the 2000 elections if the Republican congressional candidate supported simplifying the current IRS tax system? 82 percent responded very likely; 11 percent somewhat likely. Only 3 percent said not likely.

A second question asked: How likely would you be to turn out to vote in the 2000 elections if the Republican congressional candidates supported allowing workers to place some or all of their payroll tax dollars into an individual retirement account?

Sixty-six percent said they would be "very likely" to vote for the candidate, 22 percent said "somewhat likely," and only 7 percent said "not likely."