[reaganaut]

Could the difference be the Paulbots?

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I think you have hit on something. Here’s why...the Paul supporters I know tend to be more Libertarian than Conservative socially. They are fiscally conservative, but socially moderate to liberal on the main issues.

A lot of them (and even some non Paul supporters) were APPALLED by how Ron Paul, a Republican, was treated at the RNC and by Romney. The delegate issue and the insistence that if he spoke, his speech would have to be vetted, turned many of them off and pushed them to Gary Johnson rather than Mitt Romney.

I do know a few Paulbots who voted for Romney, but I also know a few (none in swing states IIRC) who stayed home. None I know supported Virgil Goode and most said (I don’t know if they followed through) they would vote for Gary Johnson because not only was he closer to thier views, but the GOP left a bad taste in their mouths because of how they treated Paul.

[Vendome]

Yea, I don’t think so.

Paulbots and Johnsonite idiots only comprised about .5% of the vote total anywhere.

That just isn’t enough evidence to make prosecuting that argument viable.

Not if you look at Florida tallies or Ohio.

The bottom line: We Didn’t Show up. We flunked. Just damn and somehow we flunked.

It’s not anymore complicated than that.

[M1911A1]

I think you’re right.

I’d have voted for anybody over Obama, but some very principled conservatives couldn’t bring themselves to vote for an “electable” moderate with a decidedly liberal background.

Then “anybody but Obama” crowd would vote for a conservative, and a conservative willing to get a little fired up about attacking Obama would have picked off at least as many undecided voters as Mitt did, without having the hard core base stay at home. I frankly don’t think the Mormon thing helped with evangelicals, either.

Maybe the demographics are truly against us, but if that’s the case, we can’t just change our spots and go left. It’s time to give a charismatic conservative a shot, it can’t be worse than this was. Unfortunately, I don’t think the GOP can bring itself to do it. Look at the GOP Speaker of the House....today he’s talking about higher taxes.

[Hero]

Frankly I believe the Ron Paulites had little to do with it.

There are large numbers of our people who do not vote, simply because they are in blue states and are hopelessly outnumbered. I know several people in California that did not vote.

In addition, Obama ran a targeted campaign, concentrating his efforts on getting out the votes in the swing states of VA, NC, FLA & OH. In those states, independents came out in droves for Romney.