I think the last time I held a lot of hope for the GOP was when it was rumored that former Massachusetts governor William Weld was being groomed for a run at the White House.

He managed to be a fiscal conservative, socially middle-left governor who got re-elected in Massachusetts and managed to actually work WITH an overwhelmingly Democrat legislature. More conservative standard-bearers in the GOP were said to have hated him and, hence, the party couldn't get behind him.