Did Romney and Republicans Go Wrong?

I’m just starting to come out of my cocoon of disavowal of Tuesday’s outcomes. I’m still a little behind and don’t know full facts and figures. (And I continue to like it that way.) But these two articles got me to thinking-

Why Romney was surprised to lose
Inside Orca: How the Romney Campaign Suppressed Its Own Vote

I admit there is a part of me that is still a little bitter over Team Orca. I was a part of it. I spent 13 hours working at the polls (freezing my butt off) on Tuesday.  I had a small glitch around noon, and a longer glitch around 6 pm. I had no trouble calling into the national number and getting assistance.

If the campaign knew full well that their system wasn’t working, why did they allow thousands of workers to stand out there and work? I worked for 13 hours and they weren’t getting any data from me? If the system wasn’t working and they had all those boots on the ground, why didn’t they call us in to the field offices to work the phones? Does any of that make sense to you that they would mismanage the usefulness of nearly 30,000 active volunteers? Something just doesn’t add up there.

Not to mention how it just doesn’t add up that Romney would have allowed something so crucial  as this web app to not get beta tested and proven first. I’m the last person ever to become a conspiracy theorist, but this really just doesn’t add up for me. None of it does.

Why would a campaign in the final minutes not throw a hail mary, redirect 20-30,000 volunteers, and do something?? If the app suddenly failed and you have all those dedicated volunteers, why didn't they correct course or change directions? Even if the command didn't come down from the headquarters, why didn't thousands of field offices (who supposedly may have known the apps were failing) not make the call?

Supposedly fewer people came out to vote for Romney than voted for McCain. How is that possible? I am very confused over this. Again, I’m not a conspiracy type, but it just doesn’t add up. It either means the numbers just have to be wrong, or there are a lot of people who really didn’t want to vote for the Mormon. They didn’t want to vote for Obama, but in the end they just couldn’t vote for the Mormon? Or that many people came out specifically to vote against Romney? Honestly, that feeling sickens me to the point of not knowing which one I would rather it not be- a rigged election or that much bigotry?

I am admittedly not a die-hard Republican. I’m far too libertarian on foreign policies. And I have wanted to see a stronger third party emerge for a while. I think the Tea Party ruined the GOP, and forced it to go too conservative. I also think the primaries are too focused on social issues, driven by the evangelical vote that is not effective in the national elections.

I want to see the party get divided. I want to see a liberal party, a moderate party, and the freak show conservative Tea Party. And I will admittedly be right in the middle of the moderates. I don’t like extremism either way and I believe in compromise, and neither party offers that. I really, really want social issues to get kicked to the states, and left out of the federal government. I think a third party could sell that better than the Republicans have so far. And I think a third more central party could bring a better sense of compromise to energy issues.

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