W Bush was a great candidate in 2000. Though McCain was good, he fell straight into Obama's campaign narratives. Dole was a bad candidate in what was bound to be a bad election cycle for Republicans as Clinton was running circles around the party politically. Romney was a bad candidate who was only close because he kicked Obama's butt in the first debate.
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It's worth noting that it's been a while since Republicans lost an election they clearly should have won.
Democrats have at least two of those on their record: 1976 and 1988. Both of those were bigger than Republican losses in 2008 or 2012.
Some people would argue Republicans should have won 2012. I'm not one of them though.
Nobody would have beaten Bush in 1988. The only reason he was beat in 1992 was because the end of the Cold War ended the unity of the Republican base when he raised taxes. Clinton's campaign was flawless when it came to making it a wedge issue and focusing on a topic (the economy) that Bush had no business talking about.
