I think Romney is a likeable guy, from my perspective. I ultimately had no problem voting for him. However, he certainly didn’t inspire people in a way that got them fired up and excited. If he had, we would not have lost 3 million voters from 2008.
The problem with Romney was that on nearly every major issue that could have been a wedge that Republicans could drive between the Democrats and Independents, it was almost impossible to argue with a straight face that Romney was markedly different than Obama. Obamacare was chief among those issues, but the same thing applied for gun control, tax reform, education policy, judicial appointments, etc. There was always something there in the background that was a black eye for Mitt. Sure, Romney has publicly claimed to change over the years, and maybe many conservatives were willing to take a chance on him, but Independents (in my opinion) saw that as dishonesty on his part. I also think that the Bain Capital attacks were extremely destructive. In my opinion, Romney should have spent most of his advertising dollars on positive message ads with him talking directly to the camera explaining the truth about Bain, the truth about his taxes, the truth about his plans, etc. Because he didn’t do that, he gave the impression that a lot of that stuff might be true (and maybe a lot of it was). I think that most of the independent voters ultimately would rather dance with the devil they know than the one they have questions about, and that’s why I think Obama won.
I know that this is unpopular among some here, but I truly think that if Sarah Palin had run, we’d be celebrating today. She had baggage, sure, but she would have made a forceful case from the beginning of the primaries right through election day, and there could not be a candidate who could draw a sharper contrast with Obama on key issues. I know one thing - I’d rather have climbed that hill with her leading the way and lost than than to have had things end up the way they did.
I wish Romney well. He’s a fine man and I admire his love of his country. Don’t get me started on that fat slob Chris Christie.
Romney didn't do that because he couldn't do that. He could only begin to respond to the previous 3 months of personal attacks by Obama in Ohio after the Republican convention. After 3 months of constant carpet bombing by Obama, Romney was permanently damaged - (see exit poll data). A Republican Super PAC could respond, but not Romney. Karl, you need to answer for this.
Additionally, Obama/Axelrod had nearly 2 years to put together over 200,000 democrat precinct election workers. After the Republicans chose Romney, he had about 4 months to get organized nationally and only had 25,000 dedicated precinct workers. No army ever won outnumbered 10:1.
How the Obama workers got paid for hustling around their precinct for 2 years is another subject that needs investigation.
The other question that needs to be answered is what happened to the 3 million McCain voters that didn't show up for Romney. Let me guess - 3 million citizens would rather allow Obama another 4 years as President than vote for a MORMON.