the thing with Mitt was that he simply was not the guy that the Conservatives wanted.
Mitt never tried to draw close to the Conservatives.
Lacking the needed support of the conservatives doomed his election.
But there is a good side to this we should not overlook.

For far too long there has been a myth that Conservatives would only support a Christian for office.
We now see clearly that Christian Conservatives are able to look past the difference in a person's religion and judge them only according to their Conservative track-record.

this means that the Conservatives are READY to vote for the guy or girl that best represents the values they have in common, and not just vote on people's religion.

Kennedy got the "Catholic issue/Pope issue" off the table and no one talks about the Pope running the country if a catholic is President any more.

Mitt has taken the "Mormon/Cult issue" off the table now too.