re: "one stupid book"
Haven't read any of those, although I'm tempted by the Reynolds book.
I'm only talking about the attempt by a political party to hold power in disregard of the votes of the citizens. A Party interposing itself between the people and the government is rendering the question of votes moot, and that's a horse of quite a different color.
"Disregard of the votes of the citizens?" I can see where this is heading. If 2006 comes out differently than the eager Left expects, look for another flood of vote conspiracy theories.
The main reason Republicans have been winning elections is not because they are paragons of governing virtue. It's because they've been running against Democrats.