The last time a Massachusetts Republican was a US Senator was 1979. Since 1997, there have been no members of the US House from Massachusetts. This doesn’t seem like a vibrant party to me, and its problems predate Romney.
By that reckoning, North Dakota is a “Democrat” state because it hasn’t elected a GOP House member since 1978, a Senator since 1980 and the other Senator since 1958. It is, in fact, a Republican state with a Dem federal delegation. There’s a lot more to a state than just going by its federal makeup.
The MA GOP was in decline, but was still competitive for offices, federally and statewide, and came roaring back at the end of the Dukakis era. When the party made the mistake of nominating Weld over House Leader Steve Pierce in 1990, it was the beginning of the end of the party. Weld deliberately jackhammered the party into the ground by swiftly wiping out the stunning gains, and his disciple Romney completed the job by the time he left office. The Democrats couldn’t have done a better job — in fact, they couldn’t have done the job at all — these two RINOs did. And frankly, as far as I’m concerned, they both were nothing but trojan horse agents for the Democrats. Weld’s plan was to take his dog and pony show nationwide and cripple the GOP and the Conservative movement, and when Jesse Helms stopped him cold, into the breach stepped Romney. Quite brilliant. But fortunately it didn’t have everyone fooled. Of course, judging by FR as of late, it looks like there’s more than a few people that either don’t know the story or would love to see the end result of what these two want to do. I’d expect to see Weld in a VERY prominent role under Romney, and that must be stopped at all costs. These guys make McCain look like a rank amateur.