> The left thought they had won for decades after how much of a disaster Bush left us with.
Yep. Remember that James Carville book 40 More Years?
Nope, won't happen. A Republican who could win the general election will never get through their primaries. A Republican who gets through their primaries will never have the broad appeal required to win the general election. Romney wasn't even the best Mormon from the last batch, but Republicans would never have accepted Huntsman merely because he worked for the Clinton and Obama Administrations as an ambassador.
You should check out Carville's book, 40 More Years. Here's an excerpt.