With the Colorado Republican Party possibly facing possible losses in the presidential, U.S. Senate, and 4th Congressional District races, among others, many say the party will have a post-election internal debate about possibly shifting the party to a more centrist position.

And, it's uncertain if that debate will be civil.

"If we wind up losing here -- if Bob Schaffer loses and if (John) McCain loses, I think there's obviously going to be a lot of inward looking on how we can improve and do better and things along those lines," said Republican attorney Scott Gessler. "It could be fights within between different groups within the party or conceivably people may just say, ‘You know, this was a bad year where we got bad luck with some of the news, the way it hit and the general environment, Moses himself wouldn't have won as a Republican.'"

Heavy Republican losses this year means "there's going to be a good deal of soul-searching," within the GOP in the coming months, said Colorado State University political science professor John Straayer.

"And it might be bloody soul-searching, because you've got a wing of the party that has expanded its influence enormously over the last couple of decades, and that's the social/cultural agenda evangelical right," Straayer said. "And on the other side you've got the Republican Party as it had been for so long, the conservative/moderates, many of whom feel their party's been hijacked, and many of whom -- I think correctly so -- see the party coming apart, seeing it divided, and losing race after race after race as a result of that."

That struggle between the conservative and moderate wings of the Republican Party is nothing new -- in the past few years, the two sides have clashed in numerous statewide GOP primaries and over Referendum C in 2005, among other examples.

"It's just more of the same, and I think it's a little more visible (and) a little more prominent now that we're in a presidential election cycle," Straayer said.

Such talk of post-election Republican soul-searching was sparked again this week with comments made by former U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis (R-Grand Junction) about how the state party too often runs candidates that appeal to the party base but can't win over critical moderate voters.

"Our state party is going to need some leadership and some direction changes - or the party is going to be a very minority player in the future," McInnis told the Denver Post.

"Scott's point - which seems to have gotten lost in the whole thing -- really was not so much conservative vs. moderate (but that) we've got to look at how our party is operating," said Mike Hesse, McInnis' former congressional chief of staff. "We've got to get rid of the good old boys network that we have."

Hesse pointed to how no Republican state legislators represent districts within Congressional Districts 1, 2 and 7 - all of which are currently represented by Democrats in Washington.

"Generally the history of our congressional delegation is (that) most of our congressional members were state legislators before," Hesse said.  "We're not going to win those congressional seats if we don't have (state) legislators in there."

But while many are sympathetic to McInnis' message, many state Republicans questioned McInnis' timing in criticizing the party just days before the Nov. 4 general election.

"It is easy to pile on and join the chorus during tough times. There is a time and a place for intra-Party discussions, and it is not now," wrote former Gov. Bill Owens (R) in an email sent to McInnis and acquired by the Denver Post.

Even his supporters said the former congressman should have waited until after Nov. 4 to go public with his concerns.

"That's not really a conversation that we should have today," Hesse said.  "We need to have it after the election, and there's plenty of time to do that."