We nominated a liberal Northeastern RINO.
Your analysis breaks down.
And before that, a Southwestern RINO.
GWB did a good job playing the part of a conservative, at least long enough to get elected.
Before him, RINO. Before him, RINO.
Actually, we're misusing RINO here, because those guys are the Republicans, we're not. We're just (or most of us at least) hitching a ride in their wagon because it's best option we've got.
And we've been doing it their way ever since Reagan, and even before that, with Reagan being forced by the party to take GWHB on.
Their way doesn't work, at least not if the objective is actually winning and doing the right thing. Time for us to do it our way. The establishment guys don't like us or want us, but they need us. But they also take us for granted -- "where are they going to go?" they laugh. "Home" is the answer.
“...We nominated a liberal Northeastern RINO...”
And we won the old Confederate States and the Mountain States so our diversity was not the problem.
It is an example of giant urban areas having power over towns and rural areas. Wyoming has three electoral votes. So does Washington, DC.