The mathematics of victory for Mitt Romney were contained in two equations: 
The first is V=62%x73%W+40%H+5%B/t-o122million=61 million votes. 
The second is V=GB04/t-o121million=62 million votes.

The former means victory equals 62 percent of the white vote, which must be at least 73 percent of the total vote, plus 40 percent of the Hispanic vote and 5 percent of the black vote in a turnout of 122 million. The latter means get as many votes as George Bush got in 2004. Romney muffed both equations.

Bush amassed 62,040,606 votes in 2004, the hapless John McCain amassed 59,948,240 votes in 2008, and in 2012 the even-more-hapless Romney, according to the latest unofficial tally, got 57,810,407 votes. That, incredibly, is two million fewer votes than McCain and 4.2 million fewer votes than Bush.

Just as incredibly, Barack Obama's tally is 60,652,238 - meaning he got 8,845,977 fewer votes than he received in 2008, which was 69,498,215. Obama's 2012 vote is just 1.6 million more than Democrat John Kerry's showing in 2004.

It was an election campaign characterized by economic bleakness and media negativity. Polls indicated that the president's job disapproval exceeded his job approval, and more than 60 percent of those polled thought America was on the "wrong track." The so-called "Obama Nation" of 2008 went into hibernation, and 12 million fewer people voted in 2012 than in 2008. Yet Obama still won, and he took the electoral vote by a whopping 303-206.

The "Obama Nation," represented by the 10.7 million more Obama voters in 2008 than Kerry voters in 2004, appeared to numerically vanish. In reality, however, much was simply absorbed into the 61 million-plus Democratic base. However, the "Bush/McCain/Romney Nation" is going to the grave. A Republican cannot win the presidency with a base of 57 million votes, which appears to be declining by two million every 4 years.

Getting back to the math: In 2008 white voters comprised 74 percent of the electorate, and McCain got 55 percent of that segment. In 2012 white voters were down only slightly, to 73 percent, or 87 million voters. Romney won 61 percent of those votes, which gave him about 44 percent of the total vote (53 million). Black voters comprise about 12 percent of the electorate (15 million), Hispanics 10 percent (12 million) and Asians 4 percent (5 million).

Romney got 30 percent of the Hispanic vote, 5 percent of the black vote and 40 percent of the Asian vote, which added 5 percent to his 44 percent white base. In 2004 Bush got 44 percent of the Hispanic vote. Had Romney equaled Bush's benchmark, he would have carried Florida and he would have come closer in Nevada, Colorado and Virginia, but he still would have lost to Obama. Even if Romney got half the Hispanic vote, he still would have lost.

The reason is simple: In the large cities and sprawling suburbs of the North, New England, the Midwest industrial belt and the West Coast, white voters are predominantly secular and liberal on social and cultural issues. They are repelled by the Republican brand. That 39 percent are sufficiently concentrated to deliver now, and for the foreseeable future, such states as Florida, Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, Colorado and Iowa. Add to that Michigan and Pennsylvania, plus hard-core Democratic states like Illinois, New York and California, and the presidency looks like a Democratic lock.

Unfortunately for the Republicans, the racial "Mississippi Model" is not applicable to national elections. In Mississippi, whites are 59 percent of the population and blacks are 37 percent. In the Obama-Romney contest, the Republican won 666,150-523,842. Obama took almost all of the black vote but barely 6 percent of the white vote, while Romney won 94 percent of the white vote, for a 55 percent statewide win.

Also unfortunately for the Republicans, the haves-versus-have-nots "Texas Model" is becoming increasingly applicable. Texas' population is 48 percent white, 36 percent Hispanic and 12 percent black, but the actual voting population is about 65 percent white and 22 percent Hispanic. Romney won the state with 57 percent of the vote (4,555,799-3,294,440), getting 75 to 80 percent of the white vote and a third of the Hispanic vote.

In 2004 native son Bush got 4,526,917 votes (61 percent of the total), while in 2008 McCain beat Obama 4,479,328-3,528,633, with 55 percent of the vote. Romney's vote equaled Bush's, but Obama's declined by 234,000 votes. As the Hispanic population continues to surge and older, conservative whites die, Texas' Republican margins will dwindle. Without Texas, a Republican cannot win the presidency.

The socially liberal/minority "California Model" is the Republicans' worst nightmare. Back in the era of Ronald Reagan, suburbanites and upscale whites voted solidly Republican; now they're habitually Democratic. Obama carried California 5,581,902-3,645,245, with 59 percent of the vote. The state is just 41 percent white, with Hispanics comprising 38 percent, Asians 13 percent and blacks 8 percent. In 2008 Obama got 8,274,473 votes (61 percent of the total), so his 2012 showing was down by almost 2.7 million votes (and Romney had 1.3 million fewer votes than McCain). The "Obama Nation" disappeared, but since half the whites, 75 percent of the Hispanics and almost all the blacks voted Democratic, the Republican base is a pathetic 39 percent. California in 2012 is America in 2040.

Obama topped Romney on Nov. 6 by 2,841,831 votes, getting 303 electoral votes and carrying 26 states and the District of Columbia. Obama topped McCain in 2008 by 9,549,975 votes, winning 365 electoral votes and carrying 28 states. Only two 2008 Obama states, Indiana and North Carolina, shifted to Romney.

So in an election in which both parties spent close to $3 billion, "no change" was the winner. An analogy would be the naive but eager Wall Street investor who buys a "no lose" stock offering and sees it tank but refuses to sell. Instead of bailing out and taking a loss, or blaming the stockbroker (Obama), the investor blames the past poor management (Bush) of the company. Obama's 2008 voters didn't want to bail. Yet the numbers are astounding: Turnout was down. Many, many 2008 Obama voters didn't show up, but the Republican vote was lower in 2012 than it was in 2008, despite all the grousing about the economy. In short, the white vote is dwindling, and with it the Republican vote.

Let's look at key states:

In Florida, Obama won 4,282,074-4,045,624 in 2008 in a turnout of 8.3 million. This year Obama triumphed 4,143,362-4,096,346 in a turnout of 8.2 million. Obama's vote fell by 140,000, but the Republican vote increased by only 50,000. The reason is demography: Florida's white population (61 percent) is declining, while the pro-Democratic non-Cuban Hispanic and black vote is increasing. To win in Florida, a Republican needs 70 percent of the white vote and 35 percent of the Hispanic vote (mostly Cubans). The East Coast Jewish vote put Obama over the top.

In much-contested Ohio, which is 88 percent white, Obama won 2,940,044-2,677,820 in 2008 in a turnout of 5.6 million. This year Obama triumphed 2,686,609-2,586,467 in a turnout of 5.2 million. Obama's vote fell by more than 350,000, but the Republican vote was down by 90,000. Obama got the 2004 Kerry vote, but Romney had almost 275,000 fewer votes than Bush got in 2004. Clearly, Obama's auto industry bailout had an impact.

In bellwether Virginia, which is 66 percent white, Obama won 1,959,532-1,725,005 in 2008 in a turnout of 3.7 million. This year Obama won 1,885,188-1,772,304 in a turnout of 3.65 million. Obama's vote fell by about 70,000, and Romney's was up by 50,000. The "Obama Nation" didn't disappear. Northern Virginia, especially the Washington, D.C., suburbs, is very liberal and very Democratic; they, combined with the 20 percent black vote, saved Obama. He won Virginia by 234,000 votes in 2008 and by 113,000 votes in 2012.

In Pennsylvania, which Obama won 3,276,363-2,655,885 in 2008 in a turnout of 5.9 million, the president won unimpressively, 2,907,448-2,619,583, with 52 percent of the vote. His margin declined from 620,478 votes to 287,865 votes, and his vote total was down by 368,915. The state is 82 percent white and only 4 percent Hispanic; rural areas went heavily for Romney.

In Michigan, which Obama won 2,872,579-2,048,639 in 2008 in a turnout of 4.9 million, Obama triumphed 2,490,290-2,097,107 in a turnout of 4.6 million. Obama's vote fell by nearly 400,000, but the Republican vote stayed stagnant.

The 2012 election was no reaffirmation or vindication of Obama. There will be no "change" in Obama's second term. The electorate has become more polarized and partisan, and they voted their prejudices. The parties' registration and get-out-the-vote efforts failed. Casual, as opposed to committed, voters boycotted the election.

Is Obama's re-election a "crisis" for the Republicans? Two acronyms apply: CCCC and HOF. The first means "cut the conservative cultural crap." Republicans lost 22 of 35 U.S. Senate seats, and they lost Missouri and Indiana because white male candidates made boneheaded comments about abortion. Opposition to abortion and gay rights are now vote losers.

The second means "Hope Obama Fails." The Democrats won big in 1948, 1964, 1976 and 1996, and the Republicans won in 1956, 1972, 1988 and 2004, but they lost the presidency 4 years later. The Republicans still hold the U.S. House, so they aren't irrelevant. They just need to avoid being irresponsible or intractable, or any stance which can be labeled "extreme."

A Republican presidential in 2016 win is not yet impossible.