Why O won and R lost?

[Rosemary]

One analysis here, from an unabashedly liberal source: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/...-rank-and-file

" So many on the right had predicted a Mitt Romney victory, or even a blowout -- Dick Morris, George Will, and Michael Barone all predicted the GOP would break 300 electoral votes. ......Conservatives were at a disadvantage because Romney supporters like Jennifer Rubin and Hugh Hewitt saw it as their duty to spin constantly for their favored candidate rather than being frank about his strengths and weaknesses.....Conservatives were at an information disadvantage because so many right-leaning outlets wasted time on stories the rest of America dismissed as nonsense....movement conservatives, who believe the [mainstream media] is more biased and less rigorous than their alternatives, have no way to explain how their trusted outlets got it wrong, while the New York Times got it right. Hint: The Times hired the most rigorous forecaster it could find."

I agree with Stevein MN - I'd like to see two functional parties, and then a system that truly respects third parties and allows them to participate. Maybe starting with third parties - really including them - would improve the two main parties.

[Gregg]

actually half the population of the US did not even vote. About 120 million votes were cast. The population is about 315 million so if 57 million people cast votes for Romney, that is less than 20% of the total population, not half.

Not to be picky, but about 75 million of the remaining citizens aren't yet 18.

[flowerseverywhere]

Not to be picky, but about 75 million of the remaining citizens aren't yet 18.

thank you. so that makes about 240 million people who could vote. So if 57,000 voted for Romney a little under 25% of the total adult voting population. and of course only 25% voted for Obama. Not exactly a true representation of our whole population in either instance.

I tried to see a breakdown of the actual demographics of age, race, gender etc. but could not find it.

[Gregg]

1/4 vote Dem, 1/4 vote Rep, 1/4 aren't old enough to vote and 1/4 are apathetic. Sounds about right.

Regarding demographics, all the talk about how 'white' the Republican party is kind of fascinates me. According to the 2010 census 72.4% of the US population IS white ("white alone" to be specific). To be sure minority populations are growing rapidly, but they have a long way to go before any of them, or even all the groups together, become the majority in the US. If almost 3/4 of the US is white and if the Democratic party does a better job of appealing to minorities then it only makes sense that the GOP is made up of mostly white folks because there's nobody else left! It just doesn't seem like rocket science to get that far. How to appeal to those minorities and still maintain the base OTOH...

[Alan]

Regarding demographics, all the talk about how 'white' the Republican party is kind of fascinates me.

Me too. Not to sound judgmental but it seems to me that one of our mainstream political parties specializes in identity politics in a big way, and it works for them. What I don't understand is why so many people simply accept the notion that their race or gender puts them into one particular political camp over another to the point that they can comfortably use race/gender characteristics as an identifying factor.

If it weren't so mainstream, I'd think it was racist, sexist and offensive.

[Gregg]

What I don't understand is why so many people simply accept the notion that their race or gender puts them into one particular political camp over another to the point that they can comfortably use race/gender characteristics as an identifying factor.

It seems like a case of perception becoming reality. For whatever reason people perceive the Democratic party as a haven for minorities. That was obviously important in this election. IMO that perception is based almost purely on the social rather than the fiscal parts of the platform. It will be interesting to see if the GOP can find a way to appeal to a broader range of women and still maintain a conservative stand on abortion. Same with gay marriage and the GLBT vote. Immigration and Hispanics. Etc. No party can be everything to everyone and while its incredibly annoying to hear what a loaf of wonder bread the GOP is, I do think the pundits are correct about he need to appeal to a broader base going forward.

[catherine]

On CNN, Alex Castellanos characterized himself/his party as "uncool" as a way to explain, prior to the results coming in, that the polls were underreporting the Romney vote: in other words, he was saying that Republicans themselves don't like admitting they're Republican because of the "boy scout" image they have.

I do not believe the "uncool white boy scout" image is a conspiracy by any other party--If that's image that Republicans themselves have created, well, that's what it is and it's only up to the Republicans to change it.

Buick isn't sitting around pointing fingers at Toyota because everyone associates Buicks with old people. They're out there trying to redefine themselves.

[LDAHL]

It seems like a case of perception becoming reality. For whatever reason people perceive the Democratic party as a haven for minorities. That was obviously important in this election. IMO that perception is based almost purely on the social rather than the fiscal parts of the platform. It will be interesting to see if the GOP can find a way to appeal to a broader range of women and still maintain a conservative stand on abortion. Same with gay marriage and the GLBT vote. Immigration and Hispanics. Etc. No party can be everything to everyone and while its incredibly annoying to hear what a loaf of wonder bread the GOP is, I do think the pundits are correct about he need to appeal to a broader base going forward.

Perhaps GOP politicians should take a leaf from Elizabeth Warren's book and start claiming various interesting ethnic identities. In an environment where people claim to detect racism in evey word and gesture, that might be a form of immunization. It seems at the moment too much to ask that calling an organization "too white" be considered as offensive as calling it "too brown".

[The Storyteller]

Every election, people read way too much into a victory or defeat. The reason Obama won was because of his ground game. Our side registered more voters and got those people to the polls in the states that count. We got just enough people out to eek out victories in the swing states to create a sizable electoral win. Without that ground game, it would would have been a lot closer, and could have gone either way.

I think both parties should be more cautious about drawing lessons. The only way the Dems continue to win the way they did this time is to keep that ground game strong. The only way the GOP is going to come back is to build a network equally as strong.

The much derided community organizer won this election.

[The Storyteller]

Every election, people read way too much into a victory or defeat. This is a divided electorate, and this was a close election. The reason Obama won was because of his ground game. Our side registered more voters and got those people to the polls in the states that count. We got just enough people out to eek out victories in the swing states to create a sizable electoral win. Without that ground game, it would would have been a lot closer, and could have gone either way.

I think both parties should be more cautious about drawing lessons. The only way the Dems continue to win the way they did this time is to keep that ground game strong. The only way the GOP is going to come back is to build a network equally as strong.

The much derided community organizer won this election.