Mitt Romney may have won the battle, but did he lose the war?

The Daily Beast's Paul Begala says Romney will be the GOP nominee because he pandered to right-wing and socially conservative voting blocs, but he created a "demography" problem in so doing.

All his desperate and pathetic pandering to the kook right has solved a problem he never really had—and created a problem he may not be able to cure: Women. Latinos. Seniors. The moves Romney made in the primary season put him in a deep hole with these three key constituencies. He attacked Rick Santorum from the right on contraception, called for an end to all Title X funding for family planning, and said he wanted to "get rid of" Planned Parenthood. Wait till moderate, independent women hear that. He attacked Santorum, Rick Perry, and Newt Gingrich from the right on immigration, pledged to veto the Dream Act, praised Arizona's immigration law, won praise from controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and his super PAC ran ads bashing Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Tell that to Latinos, whose voting power has more than quadrupled in the last 20 years. Finally, there is Romney's bromantic embrace of the Ryan Budget, which he hilariously called "marvelous." (Was he channeling Billy Crystal's Fernando Lamas?) The nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says the Romney-Ryan budget would give millionaires an extra $265,000 tax cut, but cause "the gradual demise of traditional Medicare and produce few budgetary savings." Tell that to your grandmother.