The pundits and tea party folks are saying that Romney wasn't really a conservative, was not far enough to the right. And some folks, I am sure, still blame the liberal media.
But if those were the only reasons Romney and others lost -- not far enough to the right and liberal media bias -- they would have seen it coming. They would not have been shocked.
Republicans have been fear mongers for generations. Appealing to racism and homophobia is clearly not going to work as the electorate becomes less white and and as older voters are replaced by younger ones.
And Obama's ground game has now been shown to have been more effective than expensive ads. All over the press today is Karl Rove's PAC's failure -- that the $100 million raised got them nothing, not a single win.
Plus Republicans have to note the wins for gay marriage.
Republicans will have to move to the center. They will have to find a message that is not about the fear of gays and POC. They will learn the great data driven ground game. They invented it after all.
Think of it. They thought they had won. Not only did they lose, it wasn't really that close. They lost seats in the Senate when they expected to gain them. They can see they are losing the cultural issues -- gay marriage, pot, etc.
In the future, they will have to SOUNDLY repudiate any future Todd Akins. They won't be able to appear on stage with Donald Trump. MOST OF ALL, they have to find a way to get moderate Republicans engaged in the primary process.
Think of what happened in Indiana. Dick Lugar, a senior Senator, lost BIG in the primary to tea party maniac Richard Mourdock, who made his rape comment and lost Republicans that seat. Think of it. The Republicans went from having one of the most senior and influential Senators on the Hill to losing the seat to a Democrat. *Thump*
The primary process pushed Romney so far to the right that he couldn't come back. If he had campaigned as Moderate Mitt, he might have won the general election. But if he had, he would never have gotten the nomination. Catch-22.
Maybe someone with the charisma of Chris Christie can get the nomination next time, especially after this disaster. But they will still lose down ticket races if they don't change their message re gays and POC and if they don't find a way to involve more moderates in the political process.
The Republicans are embarrassed, and they should be.
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