Legislation banning conventions went nowhere earlier this year. But it’s expected to be back in 2015, when a little-noticed change in a committee chairmanship could scramble the calculus on the issue.

The bill would be handled by the Senate elections law committee. Obenshain was chairman. He gave it up to become vice chairman of the judge-vetting, criminal law-writing courts committee.

The shift means that Obenshain’s role in a super-sensitive GOP matter becomes less visible, perhaps making it easier for him to maneuver between the party’s movement and Main Street wings.

This is where Gillespie comes in.

Notwithstanding his brief stint as state chairman and his membership in McDonnell’s privy council, Gillespie is still viewed with some suspicion among party activists.

That Gillespie consented to stand for the Senate nomination at a convention, then easily defeated three opponents, gave him street cred with the grass roots. It was enhanced when he came within a whisker of whupping Warner.

So that hard kernel of hard-core conservatives, for whom being right can be more important than winning, may be willing to hear Gillespie and his ideas for putting Republicans back on track.