Populist Nation: Romney's home state blues: can he make history?

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Romney's home state blues: can he make history?

By Paddy Ryan

In the history of the United States, no GOP Presidential nominee has lost their home state and won the Presidency. This trend is an issue for Mitt Romney, who is now 24 points behind President Obama in Massachusetts, according to RealClearPolitics.

Below is a list of every Republican to ever win the Presidency. Each one of them won their home state.

1860 – (R) Abraham Lincoln wins the Presidency. Wins home state – Illinois.
1864 – (R) President Lincoln wins re-election. Wins home state – Illinois.
1868 – (R) Ulysses S. Grant wins the Presidency. Wins home state – Illinois.
1872 – (R) President Grant wins re-election. Wins home state – Illinois.
1876 – (R) Rutherford B. Hayes wins the Presidency. Wins home state – Ohio.
1880 – (R) James Garfield wins the Presidency. Wins home state – Ohio.
1888 – (R) Benjamin Harrison wins the Presidency. Wins home state – Indiana.
1896 – (R) William McKinley wins the Presidency. Wins home state – Ohio.
1900 – (R) President McKinley wins re-election. Wins home state – Ohio.
1904 – (R) Theodore Roosevelt wins the Presidency. Wins home state – New York.
1908 – (R) William Howard Taft wins the Presidency. Wins home state – Ohio.
1920 – (R) Warren G. Harding wins the Presidency. Wins home state – Ohio.
1924 – (R) Calvin Coolidge wins the Presidency. Wins home state – Massachusetts.
1928 – (R) Herbert Hoover wins the Presidency. Wins home state – California.
1952 – (R) Dwight D. Eisenhower wins the Presidency. Wins home state – Kansas.
1956 – (R) President Eisenhower wins re-election. Wins home state – Kansas.
1968 – (R) Richard Nixon wins the Presidency. Wins home state – California.
1972 – (R) President Nixon wins re-election. Wins home state – California.
1980 – (R) Ronald Reagan wins the Presidency. Wins home state – California.
1984 – (R) President Reagan wins re-election. Wins home state – California.
1988 – (R) George H.W. Bush wins the Presidency. Wins home state – Texas.
2000 – (R) George W. Bush wins the Presidency. Wins home state – Texas
2004 – (R) President Bush wins re-election. Wins home state – Texas.

Every Republican President in American history - Lincoln, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Harrison, McKinley, Roosevelt, Taft, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, and both Bush's - carried their respective home state.

If Mitt Romney beats President Obama and wins the White House, it will be the first time in American history that a Republican nominee wins the election without carrying his home state.

That's not all.

The last time a Republican nominee for President couldn't win his home state was in 1944 when Thomas Dewey lost his home state of New York to Franklin D. Roosevelt. However, this shouldn't really count because New York was FDR's home state as well.

Take the FDR elections out of the equation, and the last time a GOP nominee failed to win his home state was in 1912, when the unpopular GOP President, William Howard Taft, failed to win his home state of Ohio, and thus failed to win his re-election.

Maybe Romney should have concentrated more on Massachusetts, or maybe GOP voters should have realized that they never won the White House with a nominee who couldn't win his home state.

Either way, Romney must have the home state blues because history's trend-line is on the side of President Obama. Romney will become yet another GOP candidate to lose his home state and, in turn, lose the election.

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