Senate seat way back when, and didn't get that.  So he knows what it's like to be rejected by an electorate. That was a Kennedy .  This is the first time he ever ran against a BROWN person.  What could be easier?  A sure sign that "now is the time!" Everybody knows Amercia hates the Browns, especially The Browns that are currently residing in Amercia's very own White House.  Shoulda been a piece of cake right?  NOT. Granted,  it would have been harder for any Republican to win in 2008 right after Bush,  but I don't see that Romney did anything different in 2012 than he did in 2008, except spends gobs more money attacking his competition. He did have a much weaker field in 2012 which may have increased his arrogance. It's one thing to have people reject your plans, proposals, theories. But to have so many people in poll after poll (not to mention all the media footage) clearly preferring to have that [root] beer with the other guy? It's got to hurt. On top of that, to have that souped-up motor-mouth marathon-runner bouncing around you all the time. It's got to weary a man. Mitt Romney was surrounded most of his formative years by wealth, privilege, and whiteness.  Attended Cranbrook private school for the wealthy, where he looks to have been a school bully.  I doubt all the kids at Cranbrook were bullies, so at least some of this (most?) can be attributed to character. Now, how