Yes there are. And they are all moderates, at least according to the standards the Republican party use these days. So the chance of a smart, thoughtful, serious conservative becoming POTUS is pretty slim for the forseeable future.

OTOH on the Democrat side, the candidate has to be bordering on being a smart, thoughtful, serious conservative to have the remotest chance of being elected POTUS. And they're still branded as such pinko socialists that they're almost red. Obama for instance is too right of centre for almost any left of centre party in Western democracies except for the USA.

So while the US political parties are skewed to the right rather than being balanced around the centre then the main party on the right will tend to get more extreme (to maintain differentiation from the only slightly right party) and hence attract more wingnuts to positions of prominance. The wingnut fringe of the Democrats remains largely marginalised as they are unelectable on the national stage, whereas the moderates in the Republican party are the ones being marginalised.

Tea anyone?

20 years ago, Obama would've been a Republican in many of his policies.  Hell, Reagan raised taxes.  Bush the First raised taxes.  As the parties get pulled to the right, the center and moderate left keep moving to the right too. I'm with you.  I find it hilarious that Obama gets called out for being some kind of leftist, Marxist, Socialist, Communist.  The death of the moderate in Washington is what paralyzed the country.  No one in the middle means no compromise, leading to neeeding 60 votes in the Senate to get things done, which is virtually impossible.