Vote fraud by individuals, and in much higher numbers, by democrat party tampering with voting machines.
I believe it was Evan Thomas of Newsweek (hardly a conservative magazine) who said that the liberal control of the MSM was worth 5 - 8 percentage points for the Democrats at the polls. If even a liberal will point this out, clearly it is something that should be addressed.
The two weapons Dems have historically used against all credible conservatives, Reagan included, are these: He's stupid. or He's mean/dangerous.
Variations on this theme have been used as long as I can remember.
Remember what a genius Bubba was, according to the media? Remember all the vicious caricatures of GWB as an ignorant country hick?
Reagan was alternately presented as a senile, old fool or a vile warmonger who would ignite a nuclear WWIII. Remember the whole "mean-spirited" talking points used against Newt when he was Speaker?
A successful conservative candidate will need to be able to successfully get past the "Stupid" and "Mean" accusations that work so well as negative Pavlovian trigger words with lots of voters.
Fixed, natural laws -- like the laws of economics -- and other principles seem "mean" to liberals, because they don't have that moral flexibility inherent in their world view. When a conservative says, "You can't spend your way to prosperity!" the liberal mind responds, "Why not!? I see prosperous people spending all the time! You're just saying that to be mean."
Or, to a woman contemplating an abortion who is told that the baby growing inside her is a human being, a person with its own mind and heart, its own God-given rights and destiny, that's "mean-spirited" because it's not morally flexible enough to allow for taking an innocent life without negative consequences. Of course, many women who have killed their own child later experience profound, life-long emotional consequences that don't respond very well to "That's mean!"
Such plain facts aren't mean, they just are, and no amount of ignoring or bargaining will change them. Conservatives somehow must explain and teach unchangeable facts and their implications, yet avoid or disarm the inevitable "You're mean!" response.
The other label, "stupid", loosely translates to "educated with the right liberal university credentials." Ronald Reagan didn't have a PhD from Harvard, so it was used on him all the time. Just think of all the liberals you know who use something like "You just don't get it" in response to someone who disagrees with their liberal ideas. It's not that the liberal is wrong, or that your conservative idea is worth considering, it's that you're too stupid to understand the higher concepts of the elite left's thoughts.
So, if your adherance to fixed, unchangeable laws and plain facts as recorded in the Constitution isn't "mean-spirited", it's most certainly too "simple-minded." The liberal expects his leader to be Better Than Everyone Else. There's an innate craving for royalty in his leaders. He wants a brilliant, magical Chosen One running the show. The notion that a regular American, such as successful businessman Mitt Romney, could occupy the exalted throne of the Chosen One, Obama is laughable!
Candidates have seen these attacks over and over again, perpetrated by the leftist media. I'd guess they aren't excited at the proposition of having that target on their chests.
Great idea. We need to get more conservative messages on youtube, facebook and twitter. Our side needs to get with it and make it hip to be conservative. Romney is about as un-hip as you can get.