Why Do They Hide?

An interesting sentence appeared in today's WaPo article on Northern Virginia Republicans:

In Prince William, moderates bruised from primary challenges in the past two elections called a meeting last month to discuss how to distance themselves from the party's right wing.

Who are these "moderates"? Why aren't they identified? Do they feel the need to hide? If so, why? And if they are elected officials like PWC BOCS Chairman Sean Connaughton, aren't they responsible for what is identified as "a widening divide with voters on such issues as traffic and taxes"? After all, they've been raising taxes for years in PWC.