"Invading the territory of the enemy" is not working anymore

[buritobr]

Invading the territory of the enemy means nominating a candidate from a state/region where the other party is stronger.
According to this strategy, it could be possible to keep the own stronghold and make inroads in the stronghold of the opponent.

It worked very well between 1932 and 1996.
In 1932, Roosevelt won NY and most of the Northeast when the Northeast was Republican (well, of course the Great Depression helped much more)
In 1960, Kennedy ran four years after the last election when Massachussets and the Northeast was more Republican than the national average. Kenney won most of the Northeast.
In 1976, Carter ran after the Republican candidate had won the South by a more than 40% margin four years earlier. He won Georgia, the South, the popular vote and the electoral vote. Ford was also an invasor, considering that Michigan went Democratic in the last two close elections. Ford won Michigan.
In 1992 and 1996, there was a big invasion. The Democratic ticket was two times Upper South. Clinton won Arkansas, Tennessee, the popular vote and the electoral vote.

But it is not working anymore.
In 2000 and 2012, Al Gore and Mitt Romney lost their home states. And they lost.
In 2004 and 2008, there was no invasion attempt.

[Mehmentum]

4 elections is not a large enough sample size.