GOP plays blame game after election losses

Some Republicans aren't holding back when it comes to assessing what went wrong for the party in the election.

"We have the right message on the finances," said Rep. Steve LaTourette, R-Ohio, on CNN's Starting Point. "We have to get out of people's lives, get out of people's bedrooms and we have to be a national party, or else we're going to lose."

Exit polls show President Obama's re-election was delivered through the votes of young people, minorities and women. LaTourette says the nation's red-blue map, showing the states that voted for Obama and Mitt Romney, points to a larger problem for the GOP.

"The Republican Party cannot be a national party if we give up the entire East Coast of the United States," said LaTourette, who is retiring in January.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said on the same CNN program that Republicans were hurt by comments about "legitimate rape" by Senate nominee Todd Akin in Missouri. Even after Romney and other top Republicans denounced Akin, Hutchison said the Akin comments had a lasting impact.

"People have to stop acting like the woman is the throw-away" in elections, said Hutchison, who is also retiring. "We had Republican candidates who got very high profile and said some very stupid things. I think that really tainted the party."