There are a lot of reasons the Red Tsunami turned into a Red Trickle. In some places, one of them might have been the candidates.

Anyone willing to run for office deserves our appreciation. It isn’t easy to be the man—or the woman—in the arena. But sometimes, in our enthusiasm, a party’s base can fall in love and forget that politics is a game of addition. Deep red candidates, for example, rarely win a blue or purple state without demonstrating crossover appeal.

You can bet that appeal is going to be limited if a candidate hasn’t even been able to lock down his or her own entire party.

It’s important to nominate principled candidates. But it’s also rather important to win. That’s why William F. Buckley—no slouch in the principles department—created the Buckley rule: Nominate the most conservative candidate Who. Can. Win.

Not bad to remember as 2024 approaches.