Romney Campaign Would Have Been Winning 30 Years Ago, Says USC Prof

mittromney.com

Compounding Republicans' problems (alienating Latinos, women and anyone who ever worked in the auto industry) following last week's presidential defeat is this analysis from a USC professor that seems to have gone viral.

Patrick James, professor of international relations at USC's Dornsife College, says Mitt Romney ran a great campaign ...

... if we were living in 1980.

Yeah, the time back when Latinos didn't matter much to the national electorate and trickle-down economics was a popular religion.

USC's James:

The Republican Party has two basic problems. One is that Romney and the top leadership implemented a winning election strategy... for 1980. If you look at the demographics and voting proportions, the Reagan coalition would not win a majority today. The libertarian wing of the Republican Party must reassert itself, or the GOP will face oblivion.

Ouch. But wait. Here's part 2:

The second, specific manifestation is the presence of political extremists as candidates. In the Democratic Party, loony leftists are kept on the sidelines and do not obtain nomination. It is one thing to have extremists in the party; it's another entirely when they are candidates. Rep. Todd Akin is the epicenter of this problem. In sum, the GOP triad of national security, economic and social conservatives has tipped over, with the extreme elements on the far right taking control to the point where the party is about as relevant as the Democratic Party in the years immediately following the Civil War.

Dang.

Okay, repubs, you have four years to think long and hard about it.

Let us remind you here that Jeb Bush is married to a Mexican and has children -- those infamous "little brown ones" -- that practically make him an honorary Latino.

Fight demographics with demographics.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]