A new study seems to say otherwise: that being more conservative tends to lose you Senate elections, while being more liberal doesn't.
Whenever this sort of stuff comes up, I think of what John Kennedy said on the subject (from Teddy's memoir): that the American people are conservative but are for progress, and that if you talk like a conservative and vote like a liberal, you're going to do fine. Now, a lot of things have changed since then, but this study seems to give it some added creedence.
