re: #13 Dark_Falcon

It was ‘Mitt’s turn’, but the passage of the ACA (a law which took many of its cues from Mitt’s healthcare law in Massachusetts) left the right very wary of Romney. A true first-rate candidate would have beaten Mitt, ‘his turn’ or not, but none ran in 2012. So Mitt Romney won the nomination, but he was hedged in by an angry right-wing that was unwilling to make nice and that featured a populism that worked against him.

So Mitt Romney went with pandering and “OUTRAGEOUS OUTRAGES!!1”, and lost. Given the advantages of incumbency in a presidential election, the likelihood was always that Obama would be reelected.

That bit in bold…I’d like to hear your take on why a true first-rate candidate did not enter the fray.