A quick note on the discussion of how disappointing the Republican get-out-the-vote effort was this year: Despite the mess with ORCA, his inability to connect with working-class voters, the notion that voters tuned out his ads late in the cycle, etc., Mitt Romney’s vote total this year is the fourth-highest of any presidential candidate in American history. The vote totals for the four most recent cycles:
Obama 2008: 69,498,516
Obama 2012: 64,970,512
Bush 2004: 62,040,610
Romney 2012: 60,517,602
McCain 2008: 59,948,323
Kerry 2004: 59,028,444
Gore 2000: 50,999,897
Bush 2000: 50,456,002
Of course, there are no silver medals for second place in a presidential campaign. But it’s worth noting that after the initial questions of “how could Romney get 3 million fewer votes than McCain?” that Romney now has a half million more votes than McCain, and that total will get higher.