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Thursday, November 8, 2012

News Nuggets 1101


DAYLEE PICTURE: A baby praying mantis on a snail in Borneo.  From the Daily Mail of the UK.

UP-FRONT CAMPAIGN CASH NUGGET!!
Little to Show for Cash Flood by Big Donors from the New York Times 
"The biggest single donor in political history, the casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, mingled with other Romney backers at a postelection breakfast, fresh off a large gamble gone bad. Of the eight candidates he supported with tens of millions of dollars in contributions to “super PACs,” none were victorious on Tuesday."
NONE!  NONE!  Isn't that a wonderful word!!  Read the whole piece!

How a Race in the Balance Went to Obama from the New York Times
"The Oct. 3 debate sharply exposed Mr. Obama’s vulnerabilities and forced the president and his advisers to work to reclaim the campaign over a grueling 30 days, ending with his triumph on Tuesday. After a summer of growing confidence, Mr. Obama suddenly confronted the possibility of a loss that would diminish his legacy and threaten his signature
achievement, the health care law."

Obama’s Second-Term Surprise: Politics Not As Usual (James Warren) from the Daily Beast
"Expect the unexpected, say people who know the president well. James Warren on what’s in store for the next four years."

With New Senate Picture, Reid Looking at Filibuster Reform (Joan McCarter) from Daily Kos
"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is getting a big batch of new senators into his caucus in January, new Democratic senators who have made the pledge to Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) to join the filibuster reformers already in the Democratic caucus. It sounds like Reid's going to enlist them immediately."

Many Iranians See Nuke Talks, No Military Attack With Obama Reelection (Omid Memarian) from the Daily Beast
Iranian citizens and authorities alike think Obama will put more pressure on Tehran for its nuclear program, but most believe he’s more likely to opt for talks and sanctions than the military action they expected from Romney."

For Obama, a Bigger Win Than for Kennedy, Nixon, Carter or Bush (John Nichols) from the Nation
"It wasn’t even close. That’s the unexpected result of the November 6 election. And President Obama and his supporters must wrap their heads around this new reality—just as their Republican rivals are going to have to adjust to it."

How Obama Won Four More Years (John Dickerson) from Slate
"He became a street fighter. And he had a better team that ran a
first-rate campaign."

Analysis: Why Romney Lost (Peter Hamby) from CNN
"...the signs of desperation inside the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center on Tuesday night were symptomatic of a Republican Party now standing at a crossroads, with not much track in sight."

A GOP that’s Off-Track (Michael Gerson) from the Washington Post
"In considering that future, Republicans will need to deal with a number of large issues — from appealing to suburban women to dealing with generational cultural shifts. There will be plenty of opportunities to reflect on these topics. But let me highlight two specific moments from Romney’s campaign that symbolized a party badly off-track. "

Inside the Secret World of the Data Crunchers Who Helped Obama Win (Michael Scherer) from Time Magazine
"In late spring, the backroom number crunchers who powered Barack Obama’s campaign to victory noticed that George Clooney had an almost gravitational tug on West Coast females ages 40 to 49. The women were far and away the single demographic group most likely to hand over cash, for a chance to dine in Hollywood with Clooney — and Obama. So as they did with all the other data collected, stored and analyzed in the two-year drive for re-election, Obama’s top campaign aides decided to put this insight to use."

The 2012 Polling Hall of Shame (Markos Moulitsas) from Daily Kos
"...there was a class of pollster that was so patently bad, they made me assume the whatever their results said, the opposite was actually true. So follow me below for a tour of this year's polling suck."

Poll: Latino Vote Devastated GOP Even Worse Than Exits Showed from Talking Points Memo
"An election eve poll of 5,600 voters across all 50 states by the group, which has researched the Latino vote throughout the campaign, concluded Obama won by an eye-popping 75-23 margin."

A Vast Left-Wing Competency (Sasha Issenberg) from Slate
"How Democrats became the party of effective campaigning—and why the GOP isn’t catching up anytime soon."

Maryland, Maine, Minnesota and Washington Bring Joy to Supporters of Marriage Equality (Meteor Blades) from Daily Kos
"Four states from coast to coast delivered a body slam to the advocates of bigotry Tuesday, legalizing marriage equality in two states, making it likely in third and, in a fourth, knocking down another attempt to make marriage a matter only between a man and a woman."

They Had It Coming! (Joan Walsh) from Salon
"Obama was right: The GOP got the electoral rebuke it needed, and that's good for the country, and the party."

Republicans Stung by Loss Begin Debate Over Future (Mike Dorning and John McCormick) from the Bloomberg News Service
"The political trauma over Republican Mitt Romney’s defeat by President Barack Obama was compounded by the party losing ground in the U.S. Senate. “If I hear anybody say it was because Romney wasn’t conservative enough, I’m going to go nuts,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said in a Nov. 5 interview with Politico."

The Malia Generation (Amy Davidson) from the New Yorker
"Four years ago, when Barack Obama was first elected President, the girls were small children—they are still just eleven and fourteen—and now Malia is about as tall as her mother. If the quarrels and deliberations associated with politics are, as Obama said in his speech, “a mark of our liberty,” then his daughters were a mark of the passage of time."

Why the Youth Vote Mattered in Obama Reelection (Lizzie Crocker) from the Daily Beast
"Headlines suggested the 18- to 29-year-old vote was no longer relevant in the 2012 election, but they were wrong. Comprising a record 19 percent of the electorate, young people were a key demographic. Here’s why they didn’t pick Romney."

Is China Envious of American Democracy? (Benjamin Carlson) from Salon 
"Chinese netizens acknowledge the stark contrast between US elections and their own government's transfer of power."

Whites-only GOP Meets its Demographic Destiny (Rich Benjamin) from Salon 
"The creaking noise you hear? It's the sound of conservative white men trying to fight off change -- and failing."

Why Mitt Lost: He Couldn’t Separate Himself from the Republican Party’s Growing Extremism (Jacob Weisberg) from Slate
"The Republican nominee made any number of horrendous gaffes. He ran a disastrous GOP convention. He never found a way to talk about himself or his agenda in a way that middle class voters could relate to. But even a clumsy candidate might have beaten Obama if not for a simple factor that could not be overcome: the GOP’s growing extremism."

G.O.P. Factions Grapple Over Meaning of Loss from the New York Times 
"“While some will want to blame one wing of the party over the other,” Mr. Cornyn said in a statement, “the reality is candidates from all corners of our G.O.P. lost tonight. Clearly we have work to do in the weeks and months ahead.” There was no shortage of theories — sometimes contradictory — from inside and outside party in the first hours after the 2012 elections."

The Five Stages of Fox News Grief (Will Oremus) from Slate
"In Fox News' election coverage Tuesday night, there was little pretense of fairness or balance. What there was, from the start, was a glum tone that turned downright funereal by the time Mitt Romney finally conceded, near 1 a.m. To watch the network's anchors and guests work through the dawning realization that their candidate was doomed was to witness a textbook case of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's five stages of grief."

Punditz: 34 Blown Election Predictions (Jed Lewison) from Daily Kos 
A laundry list of way-off-base predictions and analysis!!


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