Jonathan Last
After all that, we only flipped Indiana and North Carolina?
* To gauge how terrible Romney was, consider this: The single biggest thing to jump out at me tonight is that, if the results hold up, Romney will have succeeded in flipping only IN and NC. That’s an amazing fact. In 2008, John McCain–viewed then (and now) as a lackluster candidate–ran a mediocre campaign in an environment where his party was being held responsible for two unpopular wars and there was an ongoing financial crisis hanging over his head. He was outspent by a large margin. Fast-foward to 2012 and Romney has none of that baggage–if anything, it’s the opposite. The environment is completely oriented against the incumbent president. The money is just about even. And all Romney can do is flip IN and NC?
Blowback
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Romney wasn’t conservative enough.
Pablo Honey on November 7, 2012 at 9:19 AM
That’s oversimplifying things.
Obama won in 2008 by ten million votes.
If these results hold, he will have won 2012 by two million.
And continuously blaming Romney is not the solution – especially if you make the outlandish claim that his primary rivals would have fared better.
KingGold on November 7, 2012 at 9:21 AM
Yep, but he almost flipped Virginia too – by running on high government spending on the military.
forest on November 7, 2012 at 9:21 AM
And keep in mind that IN and NC went for Obama by less than a percentage point each in 2008. They were likely to flip to the GOP no matter who we ran. Romney did chip away at the 2008 margins in other swing states. FL, OH, VA, and WI were far closer than 4 years ago. But close doesn’t count in elections as Al Gore can attest.
Honestly I find it inexplicable that Romney didn’t at least win FL. Seriously, he had the senior vote locked up. A lot of Latinos in that state are more conservative than in other parts of the country. Their economy has been far worse than most states under Obama. And the GOP did well there in 2010. What the hell happened?
Doughboy on November 7, 2012 at 9:22 AM
The GOP needs to find better candidates for President. And we need to be ruthless. Obama won by playing small ball, appealing to every special interest group, calling Romney every name he can think of, and ignoring the real world.
Romney, on the other hand, spent the campaign saying Obama was a great guy who just happened to have the wrong policies. Way to get tough.
hawksruleva on November 7, 2012 at 9:25 AM
Romney did 5 points worse than McCain in Miami. Didn’t do well in Tampa either.
forest on November 7, 2012 at 9:27 AM
Total, complete failure on all levels.
(The media won.)
albill on November 7, 2012 at 9:31 AM
Again, how? Did right-leaning voters flee the cities for the burbs? Did Republican voters just sit this one out? I don’t understand how Romney lost that state. O-I-H-O I can understand with the onslaught of negative ads all summer, the auto bailout, and the state unemployment rate being lower than the national average. Same with Virginia and the huge number of government employees now living in that state and who likely voted Democrat in overwhelming numbers. But Florida is an inexplicable loss IMO.
Doughboy on November 7, 2012 at 9:32 AM
He was the nominee. He made the decisions. He owns it. Sorry.
Irritable Pundit on November 7, 2012 at 9:32 AM
WE didn’t show up… the votes dropped away from Obama, but WE didn’t show up… And now we are left to ask… WHO didn’t show up?
phreshone on November 7, 2012 at 9:32 AM
I just don’t get how we could have been sooo wrong. I get the “echo chamber” thing, but this was just plain nuts.
LtGenRob on November 7, 2012 at 9:33 AM
OF did better because they increased black voters and turned them out since 08
jp on November 7, 2012 at 9:33 AM
Think about it… John McCain’s vote total wins last night… Obama lost the necessary 10 million votes… WE didn’t show up
phreshone on November 7, 2012 at 9:33 AM
This wasn’t Romney’s fault. I don’t remember who but someone said that if Romney had Obama’s campaign team, he probably would have won, and I agree. We just got our butts kicked on the ground. And don’t underestimate the power of incumbency.
GOPRanknFile on November 7, 2012 at 9:33 AM
If you have a plan, I’d love to hear it. Negative advertising works, but I don’t think it would have mattered this time around.
How can we compete with a party that’s willing to mortgage the country’s future for political power today? We can’t compete in the giveaway business, and it’s hard to demagogue the opposition when they’re the ones giving away all the freebies.
The Count on November 7, 2012 at 9:34 AM
Obama, the ultimate celebrity, won again, with another mighty assist from a lapdog media.
It really had little to do with Romney.
Moesart on November 7, 2012 at 9:42 AM
I’m assuming demographics, good Democrat turnout and probably some cheating too.
forest on November 7, 2012 at 9:42 AM
LOL!!!!!
Nixon
Ford
Bush
Dole
Mccain
Romney
Why are you talking about the GOP getting better candidates?
MITT ROMNEY IS WHO THEY ARE!
lm10001 on November 7, 2012 at 9:43 AM
They showed up…”we” did not. That’s the bottom line.
changer1701 on November 7, 2012 at 9:46 AM
The country committed suicide last night. The United States of America is over. 236 years. It was a good ride.
Don’t blame Romney. We couldn’t have asked for a better candidate. Stunningly handsome, hot lookin’ wife. Well spoken. Ties to the northeast, fiscal not necessarily social conservative. Romney represented us wonderfully. His campaign team all they could do.
Lookin’ for something or someone to blame? Moocherism. American want hand-outs. That’s the take from last night. Take libertarians and conservatives out of the equation, the rest of America wants free stuff. And Obama will give it to them. The Obamaphone lady in Cleveland. Need I say more?
Eric Dondero, fmr. editor
Libertarian Republican
ericdondero on November 7, 2012 at 9:46 AM
Romney never wins anything. Last night was par the course.
Citizen-003528 on November 7, 2012 at 9:49 AM
Because the GOP as a whole is seen as hostile to Latinos. The tone of the illegal immigration debate can get pretty heated, and even Cuban voters respond negatively to that. The jokes about Latinos like Sotomayor probably don’t help.
I think the GOP can win a much larger % of Latino votes, maybe even split them 50-50%. But the current GOP just doesn’t seem interested in doing so.
AngusMc on November 7, 2012 at 9:50 AM
Well said.
changer1701 on November 7, 2012 at 9:54 AM
Unfortunately, we will quickly run out of other people’s money and then what? It is not going to be pretty. Look how cheaply some Americans sold their freedom.
JannyMc on November 7, 2012 at 9:54 AM
Really? worse than McCain? Worse than Dole, or Carter, or Kerry, or Dukakis?
Mitt Romney suffered only because he’s a decent, honorable man who plays by the Marquess of Queensbury rules, while Dear Liar is a Chicago street thug.
rbj on November 7, 2012 at 9:58 AM
The Republicans have so many problems. Maybe we need to get our a$$ kicked in 2016 again (like the Dems lost three consecutive elections in the 80′s) before we learn that we have to move more to the center, especially on social issues. What’s wrong with running a Pro-Choice candidate as VP? Apparently, everything. And we have to reach out more to Latinos, or the Republicans are finished.
The argument by some of the crazies on Hot Air that we needed an even MORE conservative candidate is laughable. We would have lost even worse.
How did that prediction go for Senate and House seats, that we would be picking up seats in both? What happened to all the PA people who wrote in that PA was “lock” for the Republicans? The number of delusional people on this board is disturbing.
asc85 on November 7, 2012 at 9:59 AM
I haven’t seen the exit polling breakdown on the senior citizen vote, but did they go for Obama? And, if so, did they really believe that Paul Ryan wanted to dump them over a cliff?
Bitter Clinger on November 7, 2012 at 9:59 AM
No it isn’t, group think said we’d win. How many of the 47%, now 51%, do you or your friends hang out with? Me? None. I truly have no idea what passes for common sense there. I don’t relate, you don’t relate, nearly anyyone asking what the heck happened doesn’t relate. And we lost.
As I see it the only way we win is for the narrow margin to vote against the democrats. That happens if the economy implodes and knocks them off their perch. They are so angry they vote republican or they are lured to that vote by republicans offering them new goodies. Sorry state of affairs but that is where we are this AM. But, I ain’t skeered nor demoralized.
Today is pirate day, Assess, Regroup, Reform!
roy_batty on November 7, 2012 at 10:00 AM
Not only was Willard a terribly bad candidate (proven by Obamas EASY victory last night) … but his best friend … fatboi Christie turned out to be a real double-edged sword too didn’t he?
I mean … you can thank Christie for single handedly bringing Obama back from the brink of defeat and making him look like a standup President after the hurricane.
Who’d have thought that Christy, only days before the election, would have been caught in bed stroking Obama’s nether regions so tenderly …
HondaV65 on November 7, 2012 at 10:15 AM
Still doesn’t explain the ridiculously long lines yesterday
stackedeck on November 7, 2012 at 10:32 AM
There’s nothing to anaylize here other than “where are you gonna move?”
America is a new demographic, entirely different than it’s founders. And it is NOT reversable. It will continue to exponentially get worse.
michaelthomas on November 7, 2012 at 10:34 AM
Romney, right before Sandy had a lead larger than the margin of error. Exit polls said 15% of those who voted thought Obama’s Sandy response was the major deciding factor in their vote. Chris Christie is responsible for the public’s perception of Obama’s Sandy response.
crosspatch on November 7, 2012 at 10:35 AM
analyze
michaelthomas on November 7, 2012 at 10:36 AM
“Still doesn’t explain the ridiculously long lines yesterday”
Sure it does. Apparently those were Obama and Gary Johnson voters.
crosspatch on November 7, 2012 at 10:36 AM
Here you go. Apparently Obama’s Sandy response was “THE” most important factor in the voting decision for 15% of the people. Thanks, Christie:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/11/07/sandy-and-the-presidential-election/
crosspatch on November 7, 2012 at 10:39 AM
After all that you failed to turn out the BASE.
5 conservatives in my office and 4 of them stayed home.
Romney was a loser from the start. Most electable, LOL OMG ROTFLMGDMFAO!
astonerii on November 7, 2012 at 11:09 AM
You would think so, but the Democrats and the MSM were so successful in their relentless attempts to blame everything wrong with this country on George W. Bush and the Republican party that McCain’s baggage became Romney’s baggage and will likely be our baggage for years to come. Heck, 2/3 of the electorate still blame Bush more than Obama for the sorry state of the economy.
steebo77 on November 7, 2012 at 11:14 AM
I buy that as much as I buy an amateur video on youtube inciting Muslim revolt in Libya.
roy_batty on November 7, 2012 at 11:38 AM