If Paul Ryan was at the top of the ticket, would he have done better or worse than Romney? I'm not saying outright victory - it's increasingly clear that the Obama GOTV plan is miles ahead of anything else the GOP is tossing around right now - but would he have been more competitive in places like Virginia, Wisconsin, Ohio, Florida?

What if we move further - a Pawlenty, or a Rubio? Where does the line really end?

Romney suffered not because he "tried" to be more conservative, but because we all knew he wasn't one of us. He then basically stopped trying to appeal to us (many would argue that he never started). Combine that with the terrible campaign? No wonder he didn't earn the base.