Is it a good idea for Mitt Romney to be more moderate, in hopes of appealing to independents and Democrats?

Absolutely. Centrists, independents and the more conservative democrats far outnumber the extreme right tea party voters that he might lose. And what are the tea party voters going to do? They are not going to the dems. They would either vote for him anyway, or not vote at all. The only issue would be is getting the nomination and I think the "regular" republicans will take care of that. The size of the tea party is a lot smaller than what they appear to be. z