By Nick Paleologos, on Fri Nov 9, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET
In their quest for the presidency, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney each spent a billion dollars. They debated each other three times in front of an average audience of 60 million Americans. In the process, they aired sharp differences on several major issues facing the country.
The people listened carefully.
On Tuesday November 6, 2012, Americans delivered their verdict.
They gave President Obama three million more popular votes–and 126 more electoral votes–than Governor Romney. By their votes, the American people settled the following questions:
1) National health care? YES. (Obamacare is here to stay.) 2) Tax cuts for the rich? NO. (Ryan Budget rejected.) 3) Roe v. Wade? YES. (Rape is never “legitimate.”) 4) Citizens United? NO. (Most expensive election ever.) 5)Balanced approach to deficit reduction? YES. (Grover Norquist sent packing.) 6) Privatize social security & medicare? NO. (Fix, don’t nix.) 7) More women in US Senate? YES. (Number climbs to 20–the highest ever.) 8) More Republicans in congress? NO. (GOP loses 2 seats in Senate, 5 in House.) 9) Bi-partisanship? YES.(Voters applaud Obama-Christie cooperation.) 10) Deregulation? NO. (Voters to top 1%: Greed is NOT good.) 11) Equal pay for equal work? YES. (Voters punish GOP for “war on women.”) 12) Self-deportation? NO. (Voters support sensible immigration reform instead.) Significantly, the proportion of young people voting in 2012 was up from 2008—as was the proportion of African-Americans and Latinos.
President Barack Obama–by virtue of 2 consecutive majority victories in the popular vote–is now the most successful Democratic presidential candidate since Franklin Roosevelt.
For a rare look into the man’s soul, I offer you this:
By Jonathan Miller, on Thu Nov 8, 2012 at 9:12 AM ET
New Electoral College Map 2012
Even more than the actual tallies of Tuesday’s elections, the world has been anxiously awaiting the results of the First Quadrennial Recovering Politician Electoral College Contest.
Because recounts are very likely, particularly in Congressional races, to calculate the winners, I will use the vote tallies that are listed in the print edition of Thursday morning, November 8 New York Times. While these tallies will undoubtedly be incomplete for many races, and winners will not be declared in several campaigns, whoever is leading as of the Thursday morning tally will be the winner for the purposes of determine our champion.
November 8 has arrived. And according to the latest New York Times tallies, these would be the final results of the 2012 elections, should those who currently lead in the vote tallies prevail:
(Drum roll, please…)
Read the rest of… First Quadrennial RP Electoral College Contest Results
By Bradford Queen, Managing Editor, on Wed Nov 7, 2012 at 1:00 PM ET
President Obama: “Tonight you voted for action, not politics as usual. You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours. And in the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties to meet the challenges we can only solve together. Reducing our deficit. Reforming our tax code. Fixing our immigration system. Freeing ourselves from foreign oil. We’ve got more work to do.”
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Mitt Romney: “Like so many of you, Paul and I have left everything on the field. We have given our all to this campaign. … I so wish that I had been able to fulfill your hopes to lead the country in a different direction, but the nation chose another leader. And so Ann and I join with you to earnestly pray for him and for this great nation. Thank you, and God bless America. You guys are the best. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks, guys.”
By Jonathan Miller, on Wed Nov 7, 2012 at 8:35 AM ET
New Electoral College Map 2012
Please use this as an open thread for your comments. Our new Managing Editor, Bradford Queen, and I will be giving updates in this space, and our Contributing RPs will be posting their thoughts as the day progresses. — The RP
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Fewer than 12 hours after President Obama delivered his re-election victory speech, attention is beginning to turn to the next big task in Washington: the fiscal cliff.
Jonathan Allen writes in POLITICO: “The election hardly amounted to a mandate for change. Instead, it will be the same players gathered around the negotiating table – or refusing to negotiate – as the government tries to deal with a pending fiscal calamity that includes the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, the end of Obama’s payroll tax cut, a steep reduction in defense and domestic spending known in Washington-speak as ‘sequestration’ and a debt that exceeds $16 trillion.”
Will House Republicans, Senate Democrats, and the President be able to work out a deal? In whose court is the proverbial ball? –BQ
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More winners and losers.
Obvious winners yesterday: Barack Obama. In Ohio & Michigan, the auto bailout. Twitter = major win, as more than 31 million tweets were tweeted (twits a’tweeting?) over the course of Election Day and Night.
The biggest winner yesterday? New York Times poll analyst Nate Silver. Or perhaps more fairly, the triumph of math, science and rationality over superstition and biased political prognostication. Silver’s predictions — based on the wealth of polling that was performed every day across the country — were dead on. Polling is not a perfect science, but math teaches us that when there are enough polls to average, weigh, and analyze, an accurate picture emerges as to where the voters stand. This is the sample principle of crowd-sourcing which I believe is the future of news, research, and progress. And it is no irony that those who deny science when it comes to climate change were the same people who were denying the power of Silver’s math. — The RP
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Two of my pet issues — marriage equality and marijuana legalization — had a good night last night, with gay marriage referenda winning in Maine and Maryland and legal weed passing in Colorado and Washington State. I will not be absurd enough to imply that these issues will find popular majority support in deep red states like my old Kentucky home. But I do believe that both issues are soon reaching their national tipping point if they haven’t already. — The RP
UPDATED: Looks like marriage equality passed in Washington State as well, and a gay marriage ban was defeated in Minnesota.
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The winner of the RP’s First Quadrennial Electoral College Contest has to await Florida, and perhaps some Congressional races. According to the official rules, to calculate the winners, “I will use the vote tallies that are listed in the print edition of Thursday morning, November 8 New York Times. While these tallies will undoubtedly be incomplete for many races, and winners will not be declared in several campaigns, whoever is leading as of the Thursday morning tally will be the winner for the purposes of determine our champion.”
