Mitt Romney's certainly come in for his share of flack lately, from both fellow GOPers and the press. But could any Republican candidate have succeeded this year, given the party's far-right lurch?
An msnbc panel on Hardball agreed Monday that Romney's problem may not be his own, but may instead be due to the fact that the party he nominally leads is alienating key demographics.
"We're getting to the point where battery acid is more popular than the Republican Party," The Grio's Joy-Ann Reid told host Chris Matthews.
"African-Americans don't want to hear about voter ID stuff that they read as directed at them. Latinos don't like the sound of the party, the way the party talks about immigration, using terms like 'illegals,' and young voters increasingly feel like they can't relate to the party," she added.
"The problem is the actual party itself has moved off of center right and they've gone too far right, and not enough people identify with that," said Reid.
GOP lawmakers, meanwhile, see the "fun house mirror" of Fox News and conservative radio. "They think they are the majority" opinion when they're not, she added.