Ahh, screw it. I can't let this go unanswered.
FIRST, YOUR RESPONSES:
3) He should have spent more on advertising early in the summer to counter Obama's "kill Romney" strategy.
Yes, in retrospect, this was a significant tactical error. For a guy whose major argument was how good he was with money, the Romney campaign did not manage their resources well. They waited until the last moment to buy TV ads, locking them into higher rates, and didn't present a compelling counter-narrative to the one Obama build for him in the summer. Part of that has to do with the kind of candidate Romney is, and part of that was just not spending money on the right things at the right time.
Mitt did however, find time to give higher staff members very generous bonuses, some above 30K. 30K staffs an entire field office that will make 10,000+ voter contacts over 3 months. Dumb.
I think it's simpler from all the above. The political demographics have shifted away from the Republican party and their response was to ignore reality.
Yeah, I think this is the single biggest deal. White people, specifically the kind of white men who read the WSJ editorial page, are not enough to win a national presidential election. The Republican party must present credible immigration reform, and must start to actually contest races in
CITIES.
One of the great genius moves of 2008 Obama was to build field offices in nearly every state, including ones the Democratic party has no chance of carrying, like Idaho. The thinking is that years of building a sustainable infrastructure will eventually pay off. This is one of the reason they've been able to expand the map, and even steal elections in places like North Dakota. It's time for Republicans to do that in cities. I need to see somebody actually campaigning where I live.
Minorities don't vote for white people in any meaningful numbers and when minorities are growing in number that will have the obvious effect.
Of course they do. Clinton was the most famous, but basically any Democrat who won a statewide election has counted on heavy minority support. That's just a dumb statement.
One thing that hasn't been mentioned was Obama's turnout effort. Romney's internal modelling had him up in Ohio and tied in PA (lol). And then Obama's machinery went to work and more people showed up than Republicans had ever imagined.
THIS. Remember how we all made fun of people like Politico and horserace journalists blowing Nate Silver and his number people? State GOP parties have done that too with field data, which is why OFA is the most sophisticated turnout machine in decades...WAY above most Republican operations.
Republicans will need to build better databases, spend their ad money better, and actually spent some money on field offices and field organizers. If Mittens got McCain's turnout in Ohio, he wins the state.
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Mitt Romney was also a bit of a flawed candidate. He didn't really have a major constituency...Massachusetts wouldn't claim him (he left with an approval rate under 40%). Michigan shunned him...only Utah really embraced him, and if wealthy business consultants and Mormons are the only people really passionate about your election chances, you're toast. Mitt is also kind of an awkward dude, who couldn't attack the President where he was really vulnerable (Health Care).
I'm not sure there was a guy that could survived a GOP primary and still beaten Obama, with the exception of maybe Mitch Daniels. Christie wouldn't have won the primaries.
