<p>If you're a football fan, you've seen it happen. A coach bursts into prominence by using offensive or defensive innovations to produce victory after victory, championship after championship. For a long time, he's regarded as one of the best. And then, something happens.</p><p>First it's an upset loss here and there. Then it's a decline to mere respectability or mediocrity. The coach fires assistants, widens his search for players and tries new schemes. But nothing helps. Soon, the onetime genius is a has-been, out of ideas and out of work.</p><p>But it doesn't happen only in football. It also happens in politics. For a long time, the Republican Party had a proven formula for presidential elections, winning seven out of 10 times from 1968 through 2004. But after two straight losses, it suddenly looks badly out of touch with the electorate.</p><p>One explanation is that Republican candidates have done so much to hurt themselves insulting women with obtuse remarks about abortion, alienating Latinos by demonizing illegal immigrants and fighting same-sex marriage despite the public's shift in favor of it.</p><p><a href="http://www.oaoa.com/editorial/columns/article_aaa1a0ee-8452-11e2-82a2-001a4bcf6878.html">Keep reading...</a></p>