There were some folks in the Senate, like Ted Kennedy and Strom Thurmond, that were truly unbeatable.
Wikipedia:
Again, Close spent how much? He was a good candidate who spent more than Thurmond and yet was unable to get it close.
Let me rephrase it another way so that perhaps it will sink in better: Beating Ted Kennedy, even in 1994, would have been like beating Ronald Reagan in 1984. Nobody ever did it, and I think nobody could have done it. Even William Weld, the most popular Republican of Massachusetts in the 1990s with connections to the Roosevelt Family through his wife, lost to John Kerry, so how do you really expect any Republican to have ever been competitive with Ted Kennedy? Romney literally had nobody backing him other than his business associates and connections through Bain Capital.
Anyway, Newt Gingrich, unlike Romney, lost his first two political races...back in the early/mid 70s, way before Romney ever ran for political office. And Newt Gingrich, unlike Romney, has never won statewide office anywhere.
He, also, lost his last race to be the Republican nominee for Speaker of the House.
Yep. And in Gingrich's resignation letter, he referred to fellow Republicans in the House as "cannibals." Really good sport that Newt Gingrich.