Quick thought about the Republican party's "extremely loyal base":
I could be wrong but I foresee a train wreck for the party coming very soon if both judicial nominees don't vote to overturn Roe v. Wade (the main reason that most of the people I know held their nose and voted for Bush despite their misgivings about the war, the economy, the environment, etc...).
Consider the following passage from Thomas Frank's What's the Matter with Kansas: The leaders of the [GOP] backlash may talk Christ, but they walk corporate. Values may "matter most" to voters, but they always take a backseat to t