If it was “boots” on the ground that won this for obama, why did he get 9,000,000 less votes than he got in 2008? No, it wasn’t “boots” on the ground. It was “thugs and cheats” on the ground. And if the republicans, or any other party, doesn’t figure this out the democrats will be in control until this country ends up in the history books.
When the final results are all in, that 9mm gap will close to something more like a 6mm gap.
That gap represents lots of non-machine voters who went to the polls out of excitement in 2008.
Those votes were hard to recapture. But the Democrats did get every voter known to the machine out to vote.
They were extremely well-organized in real time.
Every time someone they had on their list voted early, they removed the name and focused more closely on the remaining ones who had not voted yet.
They were ruthlessly efficient.
And, of course, there was plenty of fraud as well.
Most of those 9,000,000 voters were still around come 2012. Mitt failed to draw the vast majority of them in, they just didn't vote. I agree there was more than usual Dem cheating, but that doesn't explain the failure of Mitt to even reach the level that McCain reached in a bad year for Republicans. And after the banner year for the GOP in 2010.
The answer is clear as day. The GOP-e would rather lose than embrace that answer (hint - hot beverage popular over in Britain). As they showed in losing a very winnable election.