Page 20 - Robert Shrum News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Information and let viewers rate political ads. which ad came out on top? for the democratic governor's association think obama care pants on fire and yosemite sam. here it is. >> not going to be a part of again socializing health care in the state of texas. ♪ >> the ipb, what that is will be a board that will tell you, bob, whether your level of productivity is worthy of receiving the rationed care that will be the result of obama care. ♪ >> anyway, the ad that got the most votes in the fail category was the one called join the fight to repeal obama care from conservative super pac restor...

This guy was going to get the same turnout he got last time? >> well, it was clear to joel benenson who was the obama pollster and who got it right on the money. it was clear in the average polls. i think john is right about this, there was an assumption inside the party that there was going to be a different electorate. >> did you see it, bob? did you see the excitement this time we both saw in '08 for obama? >> of course you didn't see the same level of excitement, but i saw a level of determination that was intense. i saw people waiting for hours in line in the polls. i'll tell you one othe...

>> well, i think -- as you know, every poll starts with an assumption. here is who we think is going to show up and vote. therefore, that's who we ask the question of. republicans, and not just the romney campaign but republican pollsters all across the country, guessed wrong. we didn't see the intensity that there was there for the president, particularly among young voters. we oversampled male white voters. and, you know, you add all that together, and you're going to see two, three, four-point differences. plus, the assumption always is that the incumbent is not going to pick up any votes o...

Points in the polling just as romney gained 4 tying up the race. in new hampshire, obama lost 4 while romney gained 3. giving him a decisive lead. the magazine quotes a romney aide on election night talking to romney's son tagg as the results were coming in. he looked like he was in a complete state of shock, as if these numbers cannot be real. to make matters worse, their polling told them florida and virginia, two states that romney lost, were in the bag. the republican party is left asking itself what went wrong and how they fix it. john brabender is a republican strategist and top adviser ...

Did he just look like an elitist, cold-hearted guy? >> i don't always agree with john. i seldom agree with john, but he's right. what happened in the summer was that the obama campaign brilliantly went out and defined mitt romney. they defined him with the bain ads. 18 years after he lost that campaign to senator kennedy, he wasn't ready for those bain ads. i found it inexplicable they didn't have a comeback. he defined him on the auto bail out, on tax returns. >> bob, you taught them the lesson that first time. they should have been ready -- bob shrum, i'm out of time. always an honor to have...