It seems that everyone is speculating on the future of the Republican party as one "star" after another goes down in flames.  The primary reason for the lack of real political talent in the Republican party in my view is due to their inability to develop a real farm team system.   The Democrats farm team system  includes community organizers, labor organizers, local school board members and city council members, scientists and educators, doctors and lawyers, among others who work "in the field" to solve real problems.  Democrats tend to look for people who have experience in the real world, people who show the ability to get things accomplished by applying intelligence, insight, and learning.  Republicans (now) look for people who look good, toe the ideological line,  have money (or know how to engage in practices that accumulate money--legal and illegal), and can grab the spotlight in any way whatsoever.  So the Republicans have no sense of the staying power, or character, or abilities of their players:  they've never really seen them in action, except as ideological parrots or media figures.   They've never been tested on the field, so to speak.  The old GOP, with its old style conservatives, had public servants in their ranks.  That proud tradition is gone--and with it the ability to vet new talent.  Now the Republicans WITH a farm team system no doubt would look for different abilities than Democrats would, but at least they would know their men and women and be less likely to be surprised by the shallow characters they encounter.  The baseball metaphor is probably not as felicitous as it used to be, given the characterological problems with some baseball stars who came up through the farms!  But I think the basic principle holds.  Know your people, test them on the ground, observe them in action--and in combination/confrontation with others.