Mitt Romney Blames his Loss on President Obama's “Gifts” to Blacks, Hispanics, Young Voters

Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney held a conference call with top donors on Wednesday and told them that President Obama won the election won because of the “gifts” he gave to blacks, Hispanics and young voters during his first term, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Romney said: "The president’s campaign focused on giving targeted groups a big gift — so he made a big effort on small things. Those small things, by the way, add up to trillions of dollars."

Romney said motivating factors for younger voters included: Obama's plan for partial forgiveness of college loan interest, extension of health coverage for students on their parents’ insurance plans and free contraception coverage under Obamacare.

He added that Obamacare was “highly motivational” to voters making $25,000 to $35,000 who might not have been covered, as well as to African American and Hispanic voters.

Romney claimed that the Obama campaign’s efforts to paint him as “anti-immigrant” worked and Obama's promise to offer paths to citizenship for children of illegal immigrants helped turn out Hispanic voters in record numbers.

Romney had said during the campaign that illegal immigrants would somehow "self-deport" themselves, under his administration.

Romney told his donors that his campaign ran a “superb” campaign. He said there was “no drama in the campaign, not that everybody was perfect. Everybody has flat sides, but we learned how to accommodate each other’s strengths and weaknesses, to build on the strengths.”

Romney also thanked his wealthy donors: “I am very sorry that we didn’t win. I know that you expected to win. We expected to win…It was very close, but close doesn’t count in this business.”