First, you should know I am a lifetime resident of California, which by itself should explain most of my reasoning. During the last few decades I saw my state go from 16 consecutive years of Republican governerships to becoming a client state of Public Union and Minority Interests. This years election brought the additional spectacle of handing over super majorities to the democrats in both houses.

The catalyst for the shift was the successful use of the immigration issue by Pete Wilson in the 90′s which got him two terms as governor, but pretty much stigmatised the Republican party ever afterward as the party of anti-immigration in the eyes of hispanics. The rest is history.

So my view of this last election is, rationally or not, colored by what took place in my own state since the 1980′s. From the presidential post mortem so far one of the take aways appears to be that the severe drop off of hispanic votes for Romney, compared to Bush in 2004, had devestating effect. My take is that it was the spectacle of watching this years Republican candidates discuss how best to hunt down and export illegal immigrants back out of the country that effectively gave the hispanic vote to Obama on a silver platter.

So it seems to me the next presidential candidate needs to have the following qualities:

1. A compelling biography that can help instanciate the idea that, particularly if you’re an immigrant or a child of immigrants, the US is a country of opportunity.

2. The ability to eloquently explain how that opportunity is available to American citizens only because of our peculiarly American understanding of the role of small govenment and the industrious citizen.

3. And therefore the future of opportunity for American’s, immigrant or otherwise, rests in a renewed understanding of that principle.

4. To offer an alternative vision of immigration reform that doesn’t scare hispanics into the arms of the democrats.

5. Not be a caricature of WASP-ish republicanism.

Rubio is the only candidate I’ve seen thus far that can effectively meet these requirements. It remains to be seen if he is ready for the challenge, but it appears he’s already shown signs of flirting with a 2016 run.

I had an amusing image come to mind of the image of Leonidas at Thermopylae a la the 300 wearing a Rubio 2016 button. I laughed, then suddenly became inspired.

If there are future elections, if we aren’t fighting in the streets in the next four years, if we continue to have a gov’t we might want to try this.

I don’t have the complete answer to the questions and neither does anybody else today. Doesn’t mean Republicans can’t win on a platform of good public policy with a better campaign, a better message (which will take time to take root), and favorable circumstances. That doesn’t mean there are any guarantees. Nobody is entitled to win as long as they do X, Y, and Z. But Republicans can do a lot better job talking to a lot more people.

Very true. Though much of the damage came from the media effectively putting the national microphone in front of Akin and Mourdock even while it went AWOL after a few cycles passed on Bengazi. Messaging can become pretty difficult in an environment where you mistakes are magnified and their mistakes are muffled.