In retrospect, this may be a good thing for the Republicans.
Looking forward to 2016.... Biden is widely expected to run... Granted, Hillary has said she's done, but both her and Bill's egos are just too big for me to take that seriously.
Both are already well beyond the point of being labeled old white people, and it's going to be tough for them to continue to try and be the party of the young & the hip.
So, assume they do step aside... Who is in the next tier?
Guys like Mark Warner, Antonio Villaraigosa and Bill Richardson? They'll be in their 60's.
Casting a wider net, you have Andrew Cuomo, Deval Patrick, Martin O'Malley, and maybe even Debbie Wasserman-Shultz, but they'll all be in their 50's...
Bottom line... they can go with a diversity play, but it won't be a young candidate like they had with Obama, and that may limit some of the charisma & appeal.
Looking at conservatives, there's what I'd consider a deeper bench of younger hopefuls.
Guys like Bobby Jindal, Paul Ryan, and Marco Rubio are all still in office, and likely to step up. There's also Kelley Ayotte from NH and Nikki Haley. All of them are in their 40's. All are quite intelligent, great speakers, and with the exception of Ryan, provide a clean break the "old white guy" image.
If the "grey hair" is still needed, there's Allen West, Tim Pawlenty, Chris Christie and Rand Paul.
Bottom line.... 49+% of the country voted conservative, which means the base increased sizeably from 2008. If the Republicans can manage to keep that base and also use the next two years to break the "old white guys" stigma, grabbing another 2-5% shouldn't be out of the question. All they need to do is find a way to reach blacks and Hispanics.