One factor has become clear going into 2014: national office Republicans have overreached on abortion. They pursue Christian Far Right support. They back legislation state after state to deploy tricks to ban abortion.
Meanwhile the majority of Republican voters have come around to where they like this:
A majority of self-identified Republican voters prefer to keep abortion legal.
Extremism in defense of wack-job dogma ??? The GOP candidates ally themselves with an unending stream of embarrassments:
"In the emergency room they have what’s called rape kits where a woman can get cleaned out."
-- State Representative Jodie Laubenberg, Texas
See? "...Cleaned out!" There is no need for exceptions in anti-abortion laws for rape or incest.
Most Republicans find an agreeable "hook" with the alternative of focusing on unplanned pregnancies. That alternative has been around for decades. Seeing abortion as "a personal right" makes the difference for putting unplanned pregnancies out front.
Abortion has been good to GOP candidates. Even after Nixon in the 1970s, they were able to use the Christian Right for manpower so that money from Adolph Cours and the Kochs could let them rebuild. Now, apparently, that core issue has become stale.
The next two or three years will be critical: an emotional counterattack on the abortion issue can move precious points away from the GOP. For delicious quote blunders and more, follow below the orange muffin: