Why O won and R lost?

[Birchwood]

1. More women voted for O.
2. More young people voted for O.
3. Much more Hispanics voted for O. Remember R said "Self deportation" for Hisp.
4. Much more blacks, minorities, and recent immigrants voted for O.
5. People perceived O as more concerned for US industries.
6. R alienated folks with "47%" comments.
7. Democrats had better organization.
8. Republicans appeared monolithic, white only(big problem).
9. Folks are generally turned off by extreme Republican groups.
10. Anti abortion Reps. annoyed women in general.
11. Reps. failed to woo more Independents.
12. It wasn't just the economy!

[try2bfrugal]

As one article put it, the Republican party is too male, too old and too white. Just look at the mix of supporters at the election eve rallies. Which one represented the future demographics of the U.S. better? In four years, there will be even less older white voters as they die off and more teenagers and especially Hispanic teenagers turn voting age.

[Rogar]

On top of this, I'd add that Romney just didn't come off as a personable guy. In spite of his efforts, he was unable to overcome an apparent representation of the wealthy and big business. Indeed, in hind sight, it wasn't just about the economy. Romney was unable to connect very well across age, race, income and gender lines. I'm not so sure whether Obama won, or if Romney managed to defeat himself. Then again, it was pretty darned close.

[bae]

When I went to our state-level Republican convention as a delegate, it was pretty clear to me the Republicans were toast.

There were a *lot* of younger folks there, of *all* genders, and a fair amount of racial and economic diversity. Among the Ron Paul supporters, which were a significant part of the delegate crowd.

The Old Guard used every dirty trick in the book to try to marginalize and expel this group of energetic motivated people. And they were pretty successful at it.

A telling comment at a dinner I was at during the convention, from a 20-something: "well, we'll just have to wait until they all die of old age...". She was probably quite right. At 49, I was pretty much the oldest person in their crowd, but near the younger end of the spectrum of The Old Guard faction.

The Republicans rudely threw away the next generation or two of supporters at that convention. People who basically were socially liberal, fiscally conservative, and fans of smallish government and local action.

[flowerseverywhere]

as a resident of a swing state here is my opinion after talking to a lot of people these past few weeks and this morning
1. the hateful anti-Obama ads that were aired by private parties and not endorsed by Romney hurt him instead of helped him. People don't like lies and hatefulness from either side.
2. the "Religious Rightous wealthy old white man club" who are so anti-poverty, anti-woman, anti-gay, anti-accesable health care etc. came off as being very selfish and hateful as opposed to Christian and loving
3. there are a lot of people who are desperately trying to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and were scared of what might happen if Obama lost.

bae, I hope you are right, it gives me great hope that this country will come out better in the end

[bae]

2. the "Religious Rightous wealthy old white man club" who are so anti-poverty, anti-woman, anti-gay, anti-accesable health care etc. came off as being very selfish and hateful as opposed to Christian and loving

My personal politics are a bit to the right of Genghis Khan.

But, I have a teenage daughter, a wife, a gay father, and a gay father-in-law.

How the heck do the Republicans expect me to support them when they want to oppress and control the people I love?

No thanks.

[try2bfrugal]

2. the "Religious Rightous wealthy old white man club" who are so anti-poverty, anti-woman, anti-gay, anti-accesable health care etc. came off as being very selfish and hateful

Duly earning the American Taliban label.

[mtnlaurel]

My favorite headline of the past few hours....

"Congratulations Conservatives! You are getting a moderate Republican for President: Barack Obama"
on Slate.com

We flipped back and forth between FoxNews coverage and NBC coverage last night.
There are at least 2-4 alternate universes that are currently existing in our country.
I am not a usual FoxNews watcher, so it made their coverage all the more surreal to me.

Watching Megan traipse through the hallways of FoxNews in ridiculous high heels was like being trapped in a strange (not so) fun house..... to steal a line from pre-storm Chris Christie re: Obama - watching Megan looking for the Fox Decision Desk to relay the contesting protestations of Karl Rove was like watching "Obama wandering around the white house looking for a clue"

Interesting to hear President Obama bring up the deficit several times last night in his speech -- if I were a Dems, I would fight like hell for the middle electorate over the next 4 years. The Republicans have walked away from that marketshare and so much more. And if Repub's are going to fight for it - then stand the H-E-double-hockey-sticks up and start smacking down the koo-koo's - stop cowtowing to Talk Radio and FauxNews.
Find your spine Republicans and tell your racist grandmother to go shove it in a very loving way (oh wait, that was a pep talk to myself).

The Free Market of Ideas was in full control last night and the current incarnation of the GOP lost big time - they if anyone should be familiar with market forces and see the handwriting on the wall.

[Gregg]

We flipped back and forth between FoxNews coverage and NBC coverage last night. There are at least 2-4 alternate universes that are currently existing in our country.

LOL. We did the exact same thing and came to the exact same conclusion. It was weird.

[creaker]

LOL. We did the exact same thing and came to the exact same conclusion. It was weird.

I was flipping back and forth from ABC and Democracy Now - I expect I watched something very different.