The Repubs could have run ANYONE in this election and he/she STILL would have lost due to widespread election fraud on a National scale.
Just my humble opinion, but perhaps the truth will come out eventually.
The 'Rats had engaged in fraud in certain key states in '08 and got away with it. They most likely would have won nationally even without the fraud then, but would have lost the two closest states that year, North Carolina and Indiana.
So this year, with nothing to fear, they amped up their illicit operations in carefully targeted cities and counties in swing states; all of these cities and counties are heavily populated by them and lacking enough Republicans to put up much of a protest. Their emphasis was on south Florida, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and some overwhelmingly 'Rat areas in Virginia, Wisconsin, Colorado, and Iowa.
Based on our knowledge as to what happened in 2008, the GOP should have been studying the problem for years and should have come up with definitive measures to counteract the fraud and cheating in these specific geographical areas. But national and state Republicans in these specific locations seem to have been AWOL!