I'm not sure it was as much as a lack of charisma, as it was, the media wanting to, and successfully picking the candidates. I remember a debate where Paul kicked every one's butt, and Sean Insanity interviewing him afterwards. Sean went after him like he was a liberal, and instead of getting angry, Paul simply told him, he (Hannity) needed to research before he spoke, as he (Hanity) was wrong, and as it turned out Hanity WAS wrong.
Hannity gave him a very hard time, because he didn't want him, even though he was winning several states. Why folks listen to jackasses like Hannity puzzles me. He just talks over folks, and listeners mistake it for being right.
A lot of folks here on this forum done a lot of switching around, which was exemplary of the rest of the country, and this is why we are where we are now for candidates.
Very little, and in some cases no individual research was done on ANY candidates, and as a whole they voted for the one the media promoted with small exerts of the candidate's political stances.
It was indeed a shallow look at the candidates, and as they began to fall out of the race, the populace simply took the easy way out, and latched on to the next in line candidate, until he fell out also. NONE OF THE CANDIDATES' voting records were as PRO CONSTITUTION AND BILL OF RIGHTS, as Ron Paul's, but the folks refused to look, and took the next in line candidate that the media was giving air time to. It was a lazy voting populace, and now EVERY ONE is holding the noses and following the piper.