Is the GOP's only hope an anti-establishment revolution within the party?

As the Republican Party is reeling from a major loss in Mississippi - once considered the reddest of red states - the party is facing the obvious: it is going to be a bad year to be a Republican running for office. Interestingly, however, I do not get the sense it is a bad year to be a Conservative. As I poll the people around me, most are still open to traditionally Conservative values - family, freedom of religion, pro-life, fiscal restraint, etc. - but disenchanted with the part of George W. Bush, specifically.

This raises the obvious question: IS IT TIME FOR ANOTHER REPUBLICAN REVOLUTION? The first in my lifetime was the Reagan Revolution of the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan lead a transformation in the party that has become legend. The second revolution was the Contract With America which swept Republicans into a majority status in Congress where they had been the minority for over 20 years. There is a common strain to both of these revolutions was: fiscal responsibility, lower taxes, smaller government, and government accountability. Guess what has been undermined since 9/11 transformed the GWB White House: fiscal responsibility, smaller government, and government accountability.

It is time for someone - probably NOT John McCain - to start the third revolution of my lifetime dedicated to Conservative principles, and not just the Republican party. Problem is, I have no idea who has the credibility and appeal to do so. Not Ron Paul. But it is exactly this need driving his candidacy.