Pretty much common sense. 2004 was a win, but not overwhelming. That was a very strong GOP year. Our side has to run a strong race to win and have wind at our back. Fortunately, it is doable. Florida and Virginia are quite winnable. All that needs to happen is to regain footing in the midwest. Other than Indiana, we are losing OH, MI, WI, and IA consistently. We have to win two of those. I was surprised when all of those states went for Obama the 2nd time...and just two years after the midwest was a tidal wave for the GOP from Governors and Senators on down.
Thomas Jefferson had put it this way ...
"The States should be left to do whatever acts they can do as well as the General Government." --Thomas Jefferson to John Harvie, 1790.
Well running the grandfather of Obamacare didn’t help and of course if you want to prove you aren’t just the party of super rich white guys you might not want to nominate the superest richest White guy ever. :-)
Walker proved that Wisconsin was winnable and not just on off years. We should be winning IA but for some reason Republican Presidential candidates don’t run very well in Iowa which should be as easy to win as West Virginia and Indiana. Rick Scott also proved that Florida is very winnable and he won with a ton of crap on his shoulders both times and money doesn’t explain it. Both Scott and Walker ran on issues and won. OH is also clearly winnable but the common thread in these states is they have a very large blue collar component that if you piss them off they don’t vote. This is one reason why it is so critical that we don’t nominate a dynasty figure. We need guys running who didn’t cut their teeth in Venture Capital and didn’t rise on the backs of their Daddy’s fame.