As the Republican party continues its autopsy of its epic failure to unseat an incumbent Democratic President laboring under the worst economy since the Great Depression, it should keep in mind the figures 124 million and 62 million. If at least 124 million Americans vote in a presidential election, they are almost certain to put Democrats in the White House. In truth, President Obama could have given up as many as four million of his 65.6 million votes last month and still won. In the 48 months between the election of 2012 and 2016, another 2.4 million HispanicLatinos will turn 18 and most will be eligible to vote. These new voters represent an increasingly politically-engaged group that last month voted more than 70 percent Democratic. That is how real and deadly the future seems for Republicans.
In many ways the future is unmanageable for the GOP. It is one thing to gaze at the spectacle of House Speaker John Boehner dealing with the Tea party in the Republican Caucus in the House of Representatives. That is bad enough. But even if Republicans at the national level can somehow moderate their views on issues of importance to HispanicLatinos, women, gays and lesbians and independent voters in general, they will have to deal with radical Republicans at the state level – which for all practical purposes in a digital, 24/7 world can produce unrelenting chaos. Any story coming out from any state capitol or county courthouse can become a national sensation in a microsecond. Think Joe Arpaio in Arizona or Todd Akin in Missouri. That is what makes the 62-million figure important.