Two Republican candidates Democrats were hammering on abortion asked me before the election last year: “Should I answer those attacks – the party’s telling me to ignore them, that they don’t matter?”

I said abortion mattered to swing voters, answer the attacks.

Neither did. Both lost.

This election Republican political wizards moved from ignoring abortion to dodging, told candidates to say they favored making abortion legal for 12 or 15 weeks.

That didn’t work either. When a candidate said abortion was wrong but in the next breath said he’d allow it for 15 weeks that sounded fishy.

It’s a hard fact but Independent voters favor abortion – so to win a swing election a Republican candidate has to tell Independents why he believes abortion is wrong. He could start with a straightforward question: When does life begin? At conception, when there’s a heartbeat, or at birth?

The second question cuts straight to the point: When is taking an innocent life justified? When a mother’s life is in danger? If she was raped? Nothing justifies taking an innocent life?

Abortion is a tough issue for Republicans but the last two elections proved dodging and ignoring don’t work.