In the last election, the Republicans ran John McCain†, who is actually pretty much dead center in the context of US politics. It seems to me they ran Romney th

In the last election, the Republicans ran John McCain†, who is actually pretty much dead center in the context of US politics. It seems to me they ran Romney this time because 1) Romney has pretty strong economic credentials and Obama hasn't been outstanding in that department, and 2) going centrist didn't help last time. Also, like others said, the best candidates are probably waiting until next time, because Obama hasn't messed up badly enough for his supporters to turn on him en masse, so this year's candidate was likely to be a sacrificial lamb. † McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, was nutjob who seemed to be there purely to appeal to the demographics he didn't, but the man himself has historically been pretty even-handed.