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First of all, realize that what seems to be deep blue often is purple. I work two miles away from where Romney had his first PA rally. There are a lot more Republicans here than people in red states realize. The base was motivated.

But you have to do more than just win the base to win the Electoral College swing states. Was there voter fraud? Yes, and they were blatant about it. But Obama still came in, what, 6-8 million votes below 2008? Yet it appears that Romney, once all votes are in, might come in a million or so more votes than McCain in 2008, a very bad year for Republicans.

Romney failed to be a likeable candidate for the swing voters that drifted away from Obama. These people often vote on gut feelings. I have a relative who didn't vote. He thought it was completely bogus that Romney tried to claim being just like a regular American, when he has his own small business and fights to just make payroll. Other people I have talked to felt the same way.

Romney was a second-generation politician, like Gore and too many others nowadays. He showed more inclination to attack his primary opponents than Obama - typical of the GOP-E mindset. In the end, his vision for the presidency was that he wanted to be president. And I think a lot of swing voters realized that.