Top Romney strategist: Failure to reach out to women, Hispanics was our biggest mistake
“I’m a bit baffled at why people look at the Obama campaign and say they won because of their ground game on face value when they turned out more voters four years ago than they did this time. I would give them more credit for their message in those states.”
Stevens also defended Romney’s remark that the president had won because he gave “gifts” to key demographic groups ahead of the election, and dismissed the idea that Romney saw the election as a fight between haves and have-nots.
“I think what he was saying was there was an effort that the incumbent used as may other incumbents have used to reach out to constituents. It’s something we’ve seen in politics going back for a long time. They did it effectively and they had certain groups they wanted to do well with and they did well with,” said Stevens. “We had certain groups we wanted to do well with and would have wanted to have done better with them.”
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I think that 47% crack hurt a lot more than they’ll admit. Whether it changed votes, kept some voters at home, or emboldened Obama voters, it’s a bell that couldn’t be unrung.
BuckeyeSam on November 29, 2012 at 1:25 PM
If only Romney hadn’t slapped condoms out of Fluke’s hands.
MechanicalBill on November 29, 2012 at 1:26 PM
How about the ridiculous primary process? Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rick Perry, really?
Romney going toe-to-toe with a gaggle of buffoons was a problem. He had to appear as loony as the rest of the nutbirds really are. It’s hard to go from coocooforcocoapuffs to POTUS.
Capitalist Hog on November 29, 2012 at 1:27 PM
Rick Perry is actually a strong gov. He’s just not presidential.
Capitalist Hog on November 29, 2012 at 1:29 PM
Maybe Romney should just join the democratic party, because they have so many intellectual heavyweights..:)
idesign on November 29, 2012 at 1:30 PM
Yeah. Too bad the reason this is problematic will be lost on most conservatives. You can’t pretend to care about people you continually disdain. It will never work.
Capitalist Hog on November 29, 2012 at 1:31 PM
If only he had reached out to conservative women and conservative hispanics… and conservative men.
Fallon on November 29, 2012 at 1:35 PM
Wouldn’t want to offend anyone by hitting at the truth. That’s no way to get elected.
MechanicalBill on November 29, 2012 at 1:36 PM
I agree. We need to create blacklists on politicians to prevent certain ones from wrapping themselves in the mantle of the Republican party.
astonerii on November 29, 2012 at 1:38 PM
If only Romney was a real conservative.
Rebar on November 29, 2012 at 1:39 PM
If by “reaching out to women and hispanics” you mean trying out-Santa the dems, I guess we can look forward to another loss in 2016 where Jeb Bush will give a respectful consession speech and we can all talk about how a moderate R will work for sure in 2020.
DrAllecon on November 29, 2012 at 1:40 PM
We’ll never know how Romney would have fared had he picked either a woman or a minority for his VP.
That might have been their biggest mistake.
Del Dolemonte on November 29, 2012 at 1:40 PM
More excuses from Stu Stevens for a POS campaign and a POS candidate.
steebo77 on November 29, 2012 at 1:41 PM
Stuart Stevens needs to have a talk with Romney Tattoo Face Guy.
UltimateBob on November 29, 2012 at 1:41 PM
It hurt him because he offended the liberal sensibilities of the MSM. Obama’s ‘bitter clingers’ comment, well they were fine with that.
heretic on November 29, 2012 at 1:42 PM
There is a difference between ‘not offending’, ‘pandering’, and ‘reaching out’
ChrisL on November 29, 2012 at 1:43 PM
Sorry that was in reference to Romney’s 47% comment.
heretic on November 29, 2012 at 1:43 PM
Rick Perry, a three term governor, and Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House, are “nutbirds?” Give it a rest, dude.
If Romney was such a superawesome candidate then he’d have crushed them all early. Either learn to love the primary process, or start working to change things so that only specially groomed and handpicked candidates are selected behind closed doors by the party leadership.
Doomberg on November 29, 2012 at 1:44 PM
Romney campaign make a mistake?
Impossible.
It was the electorates fault for not voting for Romney and seeing him as the greatest GOP candidate ever. Better than Lincoln or Reagan.
The electorate really let Mitt down.
portlandon on November 29, 2012 at 1:44 PM
Jesus H. Christ, yet another “this is why we lost” story.
Yeah, these groups “had their feelings hurt, see. And
Romeny needed to put a Band-Aid on it, and tell them everything
would be fine.
The man lost for a number of reasons, one of which
was already posted. If only he was a real conservative.
Let’s start there, and see where we end up, Mkay?
ToddPA on November 29, 2012 at 1:49 PM
No need for Romney to apologize for letting us down.
We let him down.
I’m sorry, Mitt.
Please forgive me.
In 2016, I promise to stump for the GOP nominee in Planned Parenthood clinics and National Council of La Raza offices all over this great land.
Only then will I be truly worthy of the GOP nominee.
steebo77 on November 29, 2012 at 1:52 PM
Failure to reach out to women, Hispanics was our biggest mistake
How were discussions about fiscal responsibility, regulatory sanity, and job creation NOT reaching out to women and Hispanics.
I think it’s sexist and racist to claim that women and Hispanics don’t care about those things.
blink on November 29, 2012 at 1:53 PM
LOL
Just STFU, Stuart. You ran an awful campaign. Deal with it.
By the way, wastn’t this the same guy who just yesterday said he had “No Regrets”?? Not really surprised that the campaign manager for Romney is a flip-flopper too.
Norwegian on November 29, 2012 at 1:54 PM
Romney wasn’t getting the votes of black women and other women younger than 30 no matter what he did.
Romney wasn’t getting the votes of Hispanics younger than 30 no matter what he did.
And for the umpteenth time, people that say Romney lost because he wasn’t conservative enough don’t have a clue.
Moesart on November 29, 2012 at 2:00 PM
Romney going toe-to-toe with a gaggle of buffoons was a problem. He had to appear as loony as the rest of the nutbirds really are. It’s hard to go from coocooforcocoapuffs to POTUS.
Capitalist Hog on November 29, 2012 at 1:27 PM
Hmmm, I recall the 1980 primaries, where a FORMER
PRESIDENT named Ford declared that Reagan was “unelectable”
Also, a man named Bush accusing Reagan of engaging in
“voodoo economics”
Reagan overcame that didn’t he??
keep making excuses for Romney…nobody is listening to you.
ToddPA on November 29, 2012 at 2:03 PM
There is also legalized vote buying and it needs to be called for what it is. Fake outrage by the left and the media is just a tactic to avoid facing reality. The democrats have no incentive to fix these problems. They have no incentive to help blacks in the inner city. No incentive to lift the poor out of poverty. No incentive to reduce long term unemployment. The democrats are rewarded for these problems. They have every incentive to expand the problems to grow their power.
MechanicalBill on November 29, 2012 at 2:04 PM
Wonder how that hispanic outreach would have gone had he picked Rubio as the VP.
But aside from campaign mistakes, I cannot believe the american people didn’t pick the much better person. You have never heard of personal charity stories about Obama that you hear about Romney.
Zaggs on November 29, 2012 at 2:15 PM
It has clearly worked well for Obama.
WeekendAtBernankes on November 29, 2012 at 2:20 PM
The biggest mistake is continuing to allow the positions of the right to be defined by the left. Until the right asserts dominance over its own identity and actively attacks the illusion maintained by the left, our nation will continue its downward spiral.
The people decided the outcome of this election don’t watch news, don’t read blogs, have no idea who Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi are, and heard that Romney was going to ban tampons, abortions, contraceptives, believed that dead people turned into “space Jesus” (I heard this from several individuals), supported polygamy, etc. etc. etc.
What good is running a “true conservative” if their positions are defined entirely by the progressive media establishment?
WeekendAtBernankes on November 29, 2012 at 2:24 PM
What good is running a “true conservative” if their positions are defined entirely by the progressive media establishment?
WeekendAtBernankes on November 29, 2012 at 2:24 PM
This question has a flipside: What’s good about running an “electable moderate” if they can be portrayed as an extremist nutjob?
Doomberg on November 29, 2012 at 2:26 PM
Totally agree.
New GOP strategy –
- Full amnesty and full citizenship to anyone who has ever watched a Hollywood movie.
- Free abortions at QuickTrip in under 60 minutes or you get a new Obamaphone.
- 90% income tax rate on those who make over $1m a year.
That takes care of Hispanics, single women, and social justice.
CorporatePiggy on November 29, 2012 at 2:27 PM
SHUT UP with the postmortems already.
The Rogue Tomato on November 29, 2012 at 2:29 PM
Dear women/Hispanics/Hispanic women,
We were saddened to learn of your disabling conditions. We never realized it was so severe.
Get well soon,
(R)s
rogerb on November 29, 2012 at 2:36 PM
Damn repubs missed out on being santa clause in the four year christmas runoff.
tom daschle concerned on November 29, 2012 at 2:38 PM
So how much free stuff do we have to give special interest group to buy votes?
Since women and minorities don’t are about economics, or jobs, or debt, or deficits, or anything but “special benefits” how much will their votes cost?
And when did MATHEMATICS become the province of only white males? I must have missed when COUNTING became a white man’s game.
If women and Hispanics don’t care about the economy, how do you plan to “reach out” to them precisely?
gekkobear on November 29, 2012 at 2:45 PM
It can’t be both ways. How can he promise things to people and disdain them? You’re not in line with the GOP argument or you’re not making sense. Which is it?
Capitalist Hog on November 29, 2012 at 3:03 PM
Make them understand the lies of the other side. We tend to assume that everyone knows as much as we do…low info voters believed that Romney is only protecting banks and killed a lady with cancer.
Also precisely how the right’s economic policies will help them. It isn’t necessarily obvious to all how preventing tax hikes helps them put food on the table.
ChrisL on November 29, 2012 at 3:09 PM
It would be helpful for GOP to admit that many Republicans are also low-information voters. Look at the education rates among blue and red states.
Also, look at the percentage of college-educated voters. You can’t keep calling the other side dumb when we have just as many rubes running around with Gadsden and Confederate battle flags.
If we were a smarter party we would not have even entertained such a ridiculous field of candidates. No educated person would ever consider Mr and Mrs Michele Bachmann for POTUS much less ShuckyDucky.
Capitalist Hog on November 29, 2012 at 3:19 PM
More than you give away to buy those than other voters are willing to pay for and thus not vote for you. Hence the reason for two parties.
astonerii on November 29, 2012 at 3:28 PM
I never said that all Republicans were high information voters or that Dems were all low info voters.
I’m not sure how that fact changes my recommendations.
I’m also not sure I agree that college-educated means you are a high info voter. I also don’t know how a Gadsden flag proves your intelligence either way.
ChrisL on November 29, 2012 at 3:44 PM