Yes and sorta... the Romney ground game exceeded 2004, which itself exceeded 2000, which was the first modern data driven gotv effort.  The RNC took a nap in 2008 and let OfA's band of lean startup kids outclass them this time around, which explains that million or so boost in minority voters.  What we'll be finding out soon is why 7M white people stayed home, which if Romney maintained the 72% ratio, would've been the landslide blow they thought they had.

And I really didn't think the field office numbers mattered that much, since Obama's OfA operated separately almost like a parallel party apparatus, where the Romney/RNC teams were much more integrated... again.. it's quite obvious that it wasn't enough.

I'm going to speculate that it's b/c Romney was the worst choice of the entire field... and he's a Mormon... and kind of creepy.  I sure in the hell didn't vote for him.  Tho thinking about it.. I don't think I've ever actually voted for a GOP POTUS candidate in November.

Perhaps the problem was ORCA the Fail Whale?  http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/11/romneys-fail-whale-orca-the-votetracker-149098.html

Or perhaps Obama suppressed the vote? http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/11/rove-obama-succeeded-by-suppressing-the-vote-149046.html

 who was better than Romney in the primary?

 Any of the other governors would have been better... I still haven't gotten a clear picture as to why Gary Johnson was shut out when he was heavily touted during his entire tenure as governor.

Jared, no one was better than Romney in the primary. Which is unfortunate. 

 The heavy hitters in the GOP stayed on the sidelines  too...  Jindahl (who can take the GOP nomination at will, imo), Christie, Pawlenty dropped out too soon, Huckabee could've beaten Romney I think, Jeb Bush could've taken the nomination too (and he's the competent one of the Bush boys, should've run on 00 instead of W, tho his kids are/were wild and that supposedly played a part)

 i might consider pawlenty. huntsman seems like he was a better choice.  

 Huntsman was already too Chi-Comm friendly, and sealed his own fate by being Obama's ambassador, and the nutters don't take kindly to people pointing out they're nutters, legitimate rape or not.