Romney had his flaws. A lot will be written about his flaws, flubs and tactical errors - some of it by me. But he is a decent guy who put together a well funded and technically competent campaign. The median voter likely believes that Romney is a competent executive. The circumstances are fairly (but not overwhelmingly) favorable for the challenger. For all of Romney’s flaws, he would be winning tonight if he was at the head of a healthy political coalition. Conservatives need to get into the mindset that William F. Buckley laid out in the aftermath of the Goldwater defeat in 1964. We aren’t the majority. From this point on, winning elections has to be an evangelical enterprise of coalition expansion. Getting the 1980s band back together isn’t good enough and will never be good enough again.
I’m going to commemorate the decisive end of the Reagan Era by going to bed early.
Here is an incisive article to think over. HT to Ross Douthat’s twitter feed.
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