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Rush is just now going thru the numbers in more detail. Fewer Republicans voted for Romney than did for McCain. About three (3) million Republicans DID NOT vote. That’s enough to have put Romney up by about 100K.

That's not possible.. Rush is wrong... Romney lost because of massive voter fraud... Blah, blah, blah.

If people want to feel better by believing that Romney lost because of massive voter fraud, then by all means, they should make themselves feel better. But just because Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and Big Foot all make me feel better, that doesn't mean they are real. I'm sure there was voter fraud on both sides (although more on the left than the right). But I really, really doubt there was a coast-to-coast conspiracy to commit voter fraud that was so massive that it resulted in an Obama victory in nearly every battleground state. The problem with conspiracies is that people like to talk, and the larger the conspiracy the greater the likelihood that the conspirators will get caught because of their "loose lips."

Speculation and anecdotal observations on voter turnout is not proof of anything. For example, I voted two hours earlier than I normally vote because I was highly motivated to fire Obama. The line was longer than I had ever seen before. But that may have been because the line is always longer at that time in the morning or because motivated people like me could not wait to cast their votes. Indeed, when I spoke to poll watcher who happens to be my neighbor, he said that despite the early morning rush to vote, total votes were way down in my precinct as compared to 2008 and 2004 and even 2010.

Perhaps the best evidence of lower turnout is to look at what happened in the solid red voting districts. For example, I live in an historically red district in the bluest of blue states, and while there is no way that New York would go Romney, I expected Republican Nan Hayworth to win re-election to Congress and a number of other Republicans to hold their seats in local elections. It was a blood bath and the post-election stats are showing that Republicans stayed home in mass even though local GOP enrollment is higher now than in 2008.

We need only to look at the comments posted here at FR during the GOP primary as a measure of conservative discontent. There were hundreds, perhaps thousands of posts from Freepers who said they would never vote for Romney no matter what. I was one of them and IIRC, even JR took a hard line and promised never to vote for Romney. Although I eventually held my nose and voted for the RINO, even a relatively small number of conservatives sticking to their principles and refusing to vote for Romney would have been enough to assure an Obama victory.