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The center, for just one example, cares about nature. They aren't necessarily "environmentalists" in the sense of supporting big-government regulations, but they do care about conservation. In fact, many of the activists against gun control are sportsmen who want to make sure their fishing holes and hunting grounds still will teem with wildlife. And Evangelical voters, too, increasingly are expressing ecological concerns. There are plenty of conservative solutions for ecological problems (cap-and-trade, voluntary coastal wetlands-management arrangements, etc.) that actually work to ward off big-government meddling while reassuring independents that we aren't going to let their hunting bayou turn into another Love Canal.

The second and more important trick is to recognize that the American political center and the American right are already in concert on a host of other issues, the sorts of issues that motivated Ross Perot's backers and Jesse Ventura's backers: balanced budgets, an end to wasteful spending (especially pork), and ethics reforms. Indeed, it was in large part the voters energized by Perot in 1992 who carried Republicans to victory in 1994, mainly on the twin issues of spending and ethics.

The conservative blogosphere, of course, has been on fire on just these issues (and the related issue of transparency in government) for two solid years now. In other words, the right and the center are in utter agreement on them.

In these elections, though, at least two impressive surveys showed that voters now, by large margins, identify Republicans rather than Democrats as the party of big government. A group called OnMessage Inc., for example, found that voters in swing districts overwhelmingly believed that Democrats would be better at keeping spending down and reducing deficits. And "getting government spending under control" was the single most important domestic (non-security-related) issue identified in the survey. Republicans can attract independents precisely by re-establishing their conservative bona fides on spending.

On a host of other issues, too, the broad political center also agrees with conservatives. As I have argued numerous times on this site, (for instance, for just one example), when the issue is judges, conservatives win. To repeat the mantra: "We win because Americans instinctively believe that the meaning of laws shouldn't change with the whims of judges. We win because conservative (textualist, deferential) judges tend to reach results, by the very nature of their jurisprudential reasoning process, that the majority of Americans support: Against public confiscation of private property for other private interests. Against partial birth abortion. Against a crazed antagonism toward all references to faith in the public square. For the Pledge of Allegiance. Against judicially imposed taxation, and against judicially imposed legal recognition of homosexual unions. And certainly against the use of foreign law to trump traditional interpretations of the Constitution of, after all, the United States of America."

The third trick for conservatives trying to appeal to the center is that they must actually try to, yes, appeal to the center. We can do this, as Reagan did, by making the effort not to change our beliefs but to better explain our beliefs -- which requires, to begin with, that we act as if our beliefs are worth defending and expounding. It also requires that we show enough respect to those who remain unconvinced. We do this by taking the time to expound and explain those beliefs, in order to persuade, rather than just declaring those beliefs as if the very declaration ends the discussion.

Also as Reagan did, we must choose our language carefully. Some words and expressions are more persuasive than others are. The modern maestro at finding good language for conservatives to use is pollster Frank Luntz, yet for some reason Republicans stopped turning to him for advice. Luntz is no Reagan, for nobody can match Reagan's preternatural grace and charm. But he -- as does Peggy Noonan often, for that matter -- has a knack for finding the right words to match with the policies that are "right" in both senses of the word.

So there: That's how we can re-attract the millions of swing voters we have lost, by moving right and center at the same time. We do it by choosing our issues wisely and explaining them carefully. And in doing those things, we also take the first necessary steps toward not just attracting the voters we need, but toward inspiring them.

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