Posted on 11/18/2012 5:01:56 AM PST by Kaslin
In the wake of Mitt Romney's loss, many Republicans say the GOP must make far-reaching changes to be competitive in future elections. White voters are a smaller and smaller part of the electorate, they point out, while Latinos and other minorities are growing as a percentage of the voting public. Unless the Republican Party reinvents itself to appeal to those voters, the argument goes, the GOP can get used to being out of power.
There's something to that. The electorate is changing, and the Republican Party needs to keep up with the times. But the more fundamental answer to the GOP's problems could be much simpler than that. To win the next time, Republicans need to find a really good candidate. Just listen to the masterminds of Barack Obama's victories in 2008 and 2012.
On Thursday afternoon, the Obama campaign held its last conference call for reporters. Toward the end of the call, the three top officials in Obama's re-election effort -- David Axelrod, Jim Messina and David Plouffe -- were asked what will happen to the mighty Obama campaign now. What next for the enormous campaign infrastructure, with its massive databases and voter profiles? Will it go to a new candidate?
"You can't just transfer this," said senior adviser Plouffe. "People are not going to spend hours away from their families, and their jobs, contributing financially when it's hard for them to do it, unless they believe in the candidate."
"All of this, the door knocks ... the contributions made, the phone calls made, were because these people believed in Barack Obama," Plouffe continued. "And so for candidates who want to try and build a grassroots campaign, it's not going to happen because there's a list or because you have the best technology. That's not how this works. They have to build up that kind of emotional appeal so that people are willing to go out and spend the time and their resources and provide their talents because they believe in someone. ... The reason those people got involved was because they believed in Barack Obama. It was a relationship between them and our candidate."
Plouffe is right. He and Axelrod and Messina could have created the most awesome campaign machinery in the world, and it would have failed had the candidate not been able to forge an emotional connection with enough voters to win. Obama could do that, especially with blacks and Latinos and young people, but also with a significant portion of white voters.
Mitt Romney, on the other hand, appears not to have excited any big group. Yes, he won the support of 59 percent of white voters, but there are indications that whites actually stayed away from the polls in large numbers. Overall, Romney won fewer votes than John McCain's doomed 2008 campaign.
"The 2012 elections actually weren't about a demographic explosion with nonwhite voters," writes analyst Sean Trende of RealClearPolitics. "Instead, they were about a large group of white voters not showing up. ... The reason this electorate looked so different from the 2008 electorate is almost entirely attributable to white voters staying home."
Trende is not sure why so many whites didn't vote. Looking only at Ohio, he suggests many did not like Obama but were turned off by Romney, or at least the negative picture of Romney created by Obama's attack ads. So they did nothing on Election Day.
There is much data still to come in from Tuesday; the popular vote figures and exit poll details aren't yet final. But it's fair to say Romney's problems stemmed as much from his failure to appeal to white voters as his failure to appeal to any other voters. He lost because he did not connect to large swaths of the voting population.
That's where finding a great candidate comes in. Romney is an able, accomplished, intelligent and hard-working man, but Republicans knew from the start he was an imperfect candidate. During the primaries, GOP voters tried every alternative possible before finally settling on Romney. He remained a flawed candidate in the general election.
Now, because of Romney's loss, some are urging that the Republican Party completely remake itself. Some argue that GOP lawmakers must support comprehensive immigration reform and change positions on other issues. The answer, they say, is broad, across-the-board change.
But listen to the Obama team. There is a less complicated lesson to this election. Voters want to believe in a candidate. If Republicans find that candidate, they will win.
If you mean can you say get Marco to be the next pres contender, then
NO!
He is not a natural born citizen and is constitutionally ineligible to be the president!
Just because the stupid Americans have twice ‘voted’ a usurper soetoro/whateverhisnameis to occupy the WH illegally, does not mean from now on we can elect every ineligible candidate there is!
If we don’t uphold article 2, the most basic in the US constitution, what is the point of having a Constitution?
>> Overall, Romney won fewer votes than John McCain’s doomed 2008 campaign.
Not mentioning Sarah Palin when making a statement like this, as many recent commentators have done, is borderline criminal. Almost no one was enthused about McCain as a candidate. He very much represented more of same.
Mitt Romney was a wonderful man and a very good candidate and did not deserve to lose .. If this were still the United States of America.
It is not our candidate, it is not our Party.. It is the Democrat spin machine and a mainstream press that acts as the PR wing of the Demicray Party and I do not know what to do about it. You name one person who may have had a better chance of winning?
I don't think they even care.
They like things just they way they are in DC.
All of the Washingtonians from both parties are living in fat city no matter who is in the WH, the last thing they want is somebody to come in and wake up the American people with the news that the greatest threat to American freedom , prosperity , Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness isn't a bunch of ragheads in the middle east, it's the federal apparatchiks in DC and Arlington, and their propaganda wing in the press.
No one can sabotage a good candidacy like other 100%ers in the conservative wing. They always thinks 100% first and winning is way down the line somewhere. Its how we got zero again,8 million of em' sat home rather than vote for Mitt. How'd that work out.
Dam he’s farther from 100% than I ever dreamed...Look up charisma, messaging, like-abliity etc etc. and then weigh his conservative values to say hillary or obama II and tell me who you like best.If you think delivering a firey speech in a charismatic manner does not matter take a look at who is in charge right now some time and get a grip.
Great,than who is your candidate that has the type of charisma,is a household name and could conceivably win the nomination? I can’t wait to hear who you want.
A national post-election survey commissioned by the Faith and Freedom Coalition last night found that the evangelical vote increased in 2012 to a record 27% of the electorate and that white evangelicals voted roughly 78% for Mitt Romney to 21% for Barack Obama. This was the highest share of the vote in modern political history for evangelicals, Reed said.
“Evangelicals turned out in record numbers and voted as heavily for Mitt Romney yesterday as they did for George W. Bush in 2004,” Reed observed.
http://www.lifenews.com/2012/11/07/poll-evangelical-turnout-increased-in-2012-over-2008/
GFL with that! The Republican Party are a bunch of morons, and in 2016 they will offer up yet another milquetoast candidate instead of a conservative. F*** ‘em. Time for a Third Party.
Can't fix idiocy.
Wouldn’t it be great to give the GOP members a choice. The US Constitution or the Democrat party.
I think we realize what the problem really is.
A number of great suggestions - hope you get a few of them included into the next round of primaries.
It isn’t about race—you are falling into a trap. Its not the color of a man’s skin—its the quality of his character. Didn’t you listen to Dr. King? This is the racism of the Democrats speaking—the bean counters. We need men and women with ideas! We need people who can articulate them well—with a smile and a wink and nod of humor. What the enemy can’t stand is humor—They can dish it out but they can’t take it. Laugh them off the face of the earth. The MSM is their biggest weapon now—but that can be turned. We need to invest in Conservative Media to get out our message without being distorted.
First of all, I like to differ with the author. In 2008 McCain got 58,343,671 popular votes, or 173 electoral votes.
In the 2012 election Mitt Romney got 59,134,475 popular votes which is a difference of 793,804 popular votes, and 33 electoral votes in favor of Mitt Romney.
Now to the arrogant pos occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
In 2008 he got 66,882,232 popular or 365 electoral votes, while in the 2012 election he got 66,611,250 popular votes which is a difference of 4,270,980 popular votes that he got less, then in 2008. The difference of electoral votes in the 2008 and 2012 elections are 33 votes less then in 2012
Needless to say is that he won the 2012 election through cheating, fraud and theft which is the only way the rats can win elections
There will be no “2016” for the GOP, they’ll get absorbed into the dominant ruling party as a minority political group. Welcome to the new reality.
I want a "gut fighter" that I know will be fighting for America and me!
I think Ronald Reagan was older than any of the ones mentioned. Being an old fogie myself, WWII vet, I tend to think that with some people there is wisdom with age. Of course age without energy is not good for a POTUSA. Reagan was an exceptionally active person.
The average GOP voter did not want either McCain or Romney. How about taking away the North East's ability to 'set the agenda' in candidate selection for the GOP. The North East equals the San Francisco cabal in their lunatic dedication to lefty liberalism where way left of center is considered 'Centrist.'
How about we start the Primaries in, say Texas? See who complains about that suggestion and then we will find out who the GOP 'wets' are (to borrow a thought from the Bitish Tories)
It’s all pops and whistles from here.
No idea what you said.
There’s something about charisma in there which is a trap the enemy uses most often.
Careful.
Reaction can be very dangerous.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.