Mitt won because, one by one, the Conservative choices self destructed. Bachmann led early but gaffed herself out of the nomination. Cain led later, but he either couldn't control himself or caved under false accusations. I hope it was the latter and he caved due to inexperience, because I still think he would be a great choice if that was the case.
The rest of the candidates were simply ineffective.
I was just making the point that not imagining a room of people chanting a guy’s name is no reason why he couldn’t be the nominee.
It’s actually rare in politics to have a room chanting someone’s name. Who chanted Kerry or Gore’s name? Or McCain or Dole? Or Dukakis or Mondale?
Charismatic candidates like Reagan or Obama that people actually get behind and want to vote for are rather rare.