How did Romney beat everyone in the GOP?

[Hippo_Tron]

34. His viable on-paper opponents imploded

On paper you have four theoretically viable general election candidates...

T-paw
Rmoney
Perry
Huntsman

T-Paw dropped out (perhaps he regrets that in retrospect). Perry imploded due to gaffe after gaffe. Huntsman killed his chances when he decided to become Ambassador to China in the Obama Administration.

Then you had...

9-9-9
Joe McCarthy in drag
Three wives
Latin for asshole

None of whom were viable general election contenders. You couldn't really establish a substantial base of support around any of these folks, because enough people understood that they aren't viable. Therefore Rmoney won by default, albeit with quite a bit of trouble defeating these featherweights.

Mitch Daniels, Jim DeMint, George Pataki, Bill Owens, Bill First, Bobby Jindal, and maybe a few others could've given it a go. I suspect they didn't like the prospect of trying to compete with Mitt Romney's fundraising. Jebbie's probably pissed that his brother fucked things up so badly has pretty much ruined his chances. Although really that all goes back to Lawton Chiles beating him in 1994.

Mike Huckabee was by far the most viable contender to beat Romney. He also stayed out of the race.

But if you browse through the Republican Senate delegation and Governors, most are either way too old or were just elected in 2010.