12 million is the official gov't estimate, which I wouldn't trust. I'd say we're looking at around 25 million new voters (and their rabbit-like breeding habits), the vast majority of them new Donkeys. ....which doesn't bode well for the future of the GOP.
That's a: ''the dog ate my homework'' - -or, ''I accidently spilled the entire bottle of Rx pills down the toliet'' excuse. Some find it difficult to face deafeat by being simply beat by a better prepared adversary. Shucks, we should've won, I need to find a scapegoat and rationale' to attribute getting soundly trounced, it could not possibly be because we didn't have the better case and policy arguments.