Yes, they stole the election. But it is not the cause of the problem, it is the result of a few root causes. The biggest one in my opinion is that the GOP wants to continue to fight an ideological war, and think that conservative ideas are enough to get people to vote for them. Noble as that is, those days are over, it takes an efficient marketing and mobilization machine, along with superb grass-roots and infiltration of those who impact messages to the broader Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Vine/SNL/Daily Show voting population to win elections.
It also takes taking the fight to your opposition, fighting back and fighting at least as dirty as your opponents are. I don’t see any ruthlessness from the GOP leadership, just some mild-mannered disagreement and procrastination, while the radical left is using every dirty trick at their disposal to make sure conservatives never win a presidential election again.
If that is the case, why does the GOP keep putting the least conservative candidate out of the pool at the top of the ticket? McCain? Romney? Really?
Part of the problem is that the GOP has become so top down in its attitude that support for anyone who doesn't have a key to the executive washroom and know the secret handshake is not forthcoming, and the GOP will lose elections to scuttle such upstarts.
Conservatives, traditionally, have been the red-haired stepchildren of the GOP Brand, and routinely get chucked under the bus--to the point many conservatives have withdrawn their support.