White %age of population =79.9 Black %age of population = 12.9 Not sure how race was that huge a factor. Certainly the Clarence Thomases, Condi Rices, certainly did not vote for Obama. 44% of whites vote democrat pretty much regardless of either party's candidate. No candidate can win without a large plurality of white votes.
The Republican "run to the right" merely turns off white independent swing voters. Republicans split the white vote 56-44 pretty consistently. They seem intolerant to minorities, except Cubans in Florida thereby alienating 18% of the population. I would imagine that in the race to capture the hearts and minds of all Americans, the republicans are slowly losing.