What Now for the GOP?

Mitt Romney's defeat is certain to lead to an extended period of Republican soul-searching, and most pundits agree that the party will have to do something to deal with its lack of Hispanic support.

• Romney captured just 27% of the Latino vote, a proportion that will have to improve if the GOP wants to remain a viable national party in 2016 and beyond, writes Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post. A major GOP figure like Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio will have to put his foot down and speak "the truth to his party about the effect their stances on immigration are having on their long-term political prospects," he predicts.

• But the loss wasn't down to just the Hispanic vote, writes Jonathan Martin at Politico. For the second presidential election in a row, "the Republican got thumped among women and young voters in the states that decided the election," and the GOP won't recapture the White House "until they find a way to appeal to a rapidly changing America," he writes.
• The big debate in the party now will be about whether to maintain the anti-government stance that won in the House in 2010, writes Carl Hulse at the New York Times, predicting a clash between the party's old guard and conservative newcomers who "seem to have the upper hand for now, even in defeat." The big test will come this month, when House Republicans will come under pressure to forge a deal on the looming fiscal cliff, he writes.

(More Election 2012 stories.)