Why are the power brokers in the GOP getting behind candidates that are unable to win even their own home states? This, to me is the ultimate political humiliation (see Al Gore 2000; failed to carry TN). Romney was never going to be able to carry MA, or even his first home state of MI. Ryan couldn’t carry WI. This was just one of the many set-ups for failure that the GOP practices. I’ve always thought that any candidate who has a solid, proven, tested-over-time campaign organization in his own home state is far and away a better choice than a shaky one-termer who was succeeded by the opposition party. Conversely, Obama carried both HI and IL, as well as winning PA and DE (Biden’s home states). Before any candidate is seriously offered up in the primaries, the party must ask itself if that candidate’s home state is an automatic win. If the answer isn’t an emphatic ‘yes’, then don’t even consider them. One of the many comments made over and again about Romney during the primaries was that “he’s the only one who’s electable”. Really? well the folks in none of his home states (MI,MA,NH,CA) thought so.
Great question; simple answer, the power brokers of the GOP could care less; they got theirs and they profit coming or going. Their only real interest is in continuing to syphon off fat profits via K Street lobbyists and their interconnect with the gov’t. That’s why their focus is not on the White House, but rather, on Congress. They knew Mitt was a loser, but paid him handsomely to play the game.