Election 2012: 12 reasons Obama won and Romney lost

Romney never seemed comfortable discussing his career at Bain or his vast wealth, and they evolved into negatives when fellow Republicans used them in attacks. He seemed unprepared to respond, including the attacks on aspects of his tax returns – his low rate of taxation and his offshore accounts. Senate majority leader Harry Reid’s effort to hound Romney into releasing more tax returns seemed unfair – claiming falsely that Romney had paid zero taxes for many years – but Senator Reid succeeded in keeping the tax issue in the news. On the issue of Bain, explaining private equity to the average voter presented Romney with an enormous challenge that proved impossible to overcome.