The election inexperience of Mitt Romney.

[retromike22]

Mitt Romney has run in 5 elections.
1994 Republican Primary for Senate
1994 Election for Senate
2002 Republican Primary for Governor
2002 Election for Governor
2012 Republican Primary for President.

The 1994 primary he won with over 80% of the vote, and in 2002 he was unopposed in the primary. Out of the 5 he has run in, only 2 were general elections. Out of those 2, he has won 1. When was the last time we ever had a major party candidate who had been in so few elections? I think it was Eisenhower. But isn't his lack of experience a major cause of his current woes?

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

I hate to be defending Romney, but Romney was the runner up in the 2008 primaries.  And there have been other Presidents with a not very impressive record of winning general elections on their own. Lincoln and George HW Bush come to mind.

[Mister Twister]

Yeah, Obama didn't have long track record of election victories either. He beat Alan Keyes. Big f***ing whoop.

[Politico]

George W. Bush was only 2-1 with regards to general elections before running for president. Obama was 1-1 in federal campaigns prior to 2008 (he lost the IL-1 primary in 2000). George H.W. Bush and Gerald Ford never won statewide office, unlike Romney. Carter was only 1-0 in statewide races (lost the gubernatorial primary in 1966, though). Reagan won the gubernatorial race in California twice, but he lost two presidential primaries before winning the nomination/election on his third attempt. Nixon lost a presidential campaign, and a gubernatorial campaign, before becoming president.

Even Clinton lost a statewide race once (i.e., his first re-election bid for Governor).

Come to think of it, only LBJ never lost a general election of some sort (but he did fall short of beating Kennedy in 1960, and obviously knew he could not win in 1968).

Obviously Kennedy (who may or may not have been the actual winner of 1960), Eisenhower (the last person completely outside of politics to win the presidency) and Truman are going way back in the past...

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

3 future Presidential nominees (2 of whom won) ran for Congress in the 1970s and lost. Bill Clinton, with all of his political skills somehow managed to lose in 1974. Kerry and George W Bush also lost. FDR was on a Presidential ticket that lost his home state of New York by 40 points. Losing a race hasn't exactly meant that you don't get to become President.

On the other hand, Al Gore never lost a general election, and yet somehow still failed to become President.

[Politico]

On the other hand, Al Gore never lost a general election, and yet somehow still failed to become President.

Yeah, and like LBJ he failed at his first attempt to become president (1988 primaries). Odd how those two never lost a general election. If nobody knew any better and you gave people a list of all the names in this thread, they would bet that Clinton and Reagan never lost a general election. Gore and LBJ would not be put into that category by many folks.

[NVGonzalez]

Bill Clinton, with all of his political skills somehow managed to lose in 1974.

I believe he also lost his first reelection bid in 1980. 2 years later though he got his job back and didn't let it go until running for President and winning.