Special guest post by M. Joseph Sheppard.

GOP Chair Reince Preibus looked forwards towards the 2016 presidential campaign after the Republican’s mid-terms”tsunami” with a measured outlook. He would have been justified in much hubris given the outstanding results in state houses, governorship’s and congress but his professional eye sees the challenging Electoral College scenario.

Preibus said “a 2016 win requires an about perfect GOP campaign and he is absolutely correct in that assessment. For the Republican presidential nominee to get to 270 electoral college votes the finest of needle threading is required with every state on the possible list needing to be won.

The Democrat’s start with the massive advantage of California, New York and the New England states giving them a substantial base to which only a few contestable states need to be added. For the GOP there is only Texas as a major bankable state with the entire…