Why Romney Lost: After Defeat, the Romney Campaign Can No Longer Deny Reality

Impact

The Mitt Romney campaign spent millions of dollars and made hundreds of campaign stops in the Midwestern states of Ohio, Wisconsin, and Iowa. A few days before the election, Romney announced that he would compete in Pennsylvania. But Democrats have won the Keystone State in five straight presidential elections. Equally important, Romney had never led in any polls. Romney’s attempt to win the Keystone State in a few days before the election was a surefire sign that his campaign was in full panic. The re-election of President Barack Obama showed that the Romney campaign was in complete denial when they declared that they could win Pennsylvania, which is a state that no Republican has won since 1988. The result of the election finally shattered the reality bubble in which Romney and his campaign had ensconced themselves for most of the campaign.

In his foray into Pennsylvania, the Romney campaign claimed that he was trying to expand the electoral map. But Romney was trailing the president in most polls in the state. Even more importantly, Democrats have a huge registration advantage. There are a million more registered Democrats than Republicans.

With great fanfare, however, the Romney campaign said that they believed that they could win Pennsylvania because the race was tightening. To make it happen, Romney started to air ads in the state and the Republican National Committee was expected to spend close to $12 million.

Despite these claims by the Romney camp, Romney's last ditch effort to win the state of Pennsylvania was a sign that his campaign was exploding. The result in Pennsylvania surely proved that the Romney campaign was in its last gasp when they decided to compete in the Keystone State.

This defeat showed once again that Romney was not running against Obama in the remaining weeks of the campaign. The Romney camp was running against reality. For most of the campaign, Romney proved he was more comfortable living in his own reality by denying what the polls were saying. Throughout the campaign they showed a strong aversion to the reality that most people inhabit by proposing a tax plan that defied arithmetic. On this cold November day, this flight from objective reality has come to an abrupt end.