Iowa State Sen. Jeff Angelo, R- Creston, today said his party is primed to beat the woman he believes will be the  likely Democratic presidential nominee on taxes and natural security if the GOP has the courage to cut “dead wood” figures like disgraced U.S. Sen. Larry Craig from its ranks.

Moreover, the Craig matter shows Republicans the edge-of-the-cliff potential with giving personal values issues top billing in a national party agenda. One mistake (a la Craig) and the dominoes fall, says Angelo.

“We set ourselves up for that when we put socially conservative issues out front,” Angelo tells Iowa Independent. “Human beings will let you down.”

But, says Angelo, the free market won’t. The GOP should get back to its roots, he said.

Angelo, 42, an Evangelical Christian who attends the Abundant Family Life Church in Creston and is a member of the Iowa Christian Alliance, serves as GOP presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani’s Iowa campaign co-chairman.

In a 45-minute conversation today with Iowa Independent, the Creston Republican said that the developing Craig episode reveals how desperately his party needs a serious history primer.

“We’re forgetting the lesson of Ronald Reagan,” Angelo said, adding that a message of fiscal conservatism blended with national defense is a winning approach that “Rudy Giuliani gets right.”

“I think we’ve gotten off track,” Angelo said. “I think we need to return to the message that people expect to hear (from Republicans).”

This doesn’t mean Republicans should be frightened from serious debates on matters like gay marriage, he adds.

Angelo opposes gay marriage and is the lead sponsor of a measure in the Iowa Senate that would enshrine marriage as being between a man and a woman. Angelo said he’s prepared to argue that sociological evidence proves a traditional family structure is best for children.

“I do think it’s A-OK to talk about the structure and makeup of families,” Angelo said. “In the name of political correctness I can’t ignore that.”

But he urges the GOP to be careful and compassionate in these debates. That’s not always the case as a “major portion” of the GOP political strategy has been “targeting gays,” Angelo said.

“There is a second (GOP) agenda running here which I think is anti-person,” Angelo said.

That agenda is politically perilous in times when personal lives of public figures are under increasing scrutiny.

Angelo said he fully expects Hillary Clinton to be the Democratic nominee and that with her high negatives she’s vulnerable, and actually the underdog, unless the GOP implodes with Mark Foley- and Larry Craig-type scandals that Angelo sees knocking down many candidates by 10 points or more in the polls simply on a disgust factor.

And with Craig, the issue in the minds of voters is as much credibility and abuse of power as it is alleged lurid sexual encounters, Angelo said.

“I think there is nothing worse in the voters' mind than believing that a political party has become arrogant to the point where it allows corruption," Angelo said.

On an intriguing blog — God, Politics and Rock ‘n’ Roll — that Angelo recently launched with his liberal Democrat fiancée, the Creston Republican made the following observations in a post about Larry Craig:

Let's use a football analogy: the primary season is like pre-season in the NFL. It's time to get the GOP team into championship shape–and that means it's time to make some cuts.

When the Mark Foley scandal hit in 2006, Republican pollsters across the country reported that GOP candidates dropped TEN POINTS EACH in their individual races. Independents and other persuadables left Republican candidates in droves–the GOP "brand" suffered huge damage. Voters don't tolerate scandal associated with arrogance and every Republican candidate suffered.

On to 2008: the election currently is for the Republicans to lose, not for Democrats to win. Democrats are about to nominate a presidential candidate who has the highest negatives in the primary. However, Republicans are in danger of responding with either a candidate with equally high negatives or a candidate who is already stumbling badly even before he declares.

The upcoming Petraeus report will show that we are making progress in our counter-insurgency strategy in Iraq. Already, liberal bloggers are debating how to respond to a positive report: either by calling the General a liar or responding that progress is too slow. The Democratic Congress is suffering through historic low approval ratings; because their (successful) 2006 platform was anti-Republican, they failed to reach consensus on any agenda besides raising the minimum wage–and voters don't tolerate inaction.

But if the GOP continues to deal with revelations of scandal, the GOP brand won't recover and the party will squander an opportunity to put out a proactive agenda and act upon it. Our Democratic friends will pull out the "had enough?" bumper stickers for 2008 and that WILL be enough to make it another nightmare cycle for the Grand Ol' Party.