I have a lot of thoughts that I hope I get around to writing down -- advice to over-confidant Dems who are going on and on and the Republicans having to re-calibrate. Maybe later.
For now, a few quotes from various entries here:
maddowblog.msnbc.com/(In general it looks like the entries aren't actually written by RM herself. Also, sadly, like nearly all internet sites I wouldn't recommend reading the comments.)
But did like a couple of observations:
--The GOP apparently isn't familiar with actuarial tables, either, choosing to be heavily reliant on older voters.
--Watching Sen.-elect Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) earn a big win last night, I couldn't help but think about the way in which Senate Republicans were indirectly responsible for the outcome.
You'll recall that it was Warren's consumer-advocacy work that led President Obama and congressional Democrats to create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. GOP policymakers fought the agency's existence, but they also drew a line in the sand: under no circumstances would Warren be allowed to head the CFPB.
As a result, Obama asked Warren to help structure the agency; Richard Cordray got to worklooking out for consumers; and Democrats approached Warren with an idea: "You know, there's this Senate race coming up in Massachusetts...."
Sen. Scott Brown (R) looked to be in a fairly strong position, but Warren beat him with relative ease yesterday, ending up with an eight-point edge with nearly all the precincts reporting.
If Senate Republicans had allowed Warren to receive a simple, up-or-down vote, she very likely would have spent 2012 at the CFPB, instead of on the campaign trail, and Democrats may have struggled to find a candidate who could have dispatched Brown so easily.
But the GOP's obstructionist instincts stopped the party from thinking ahead.
And from an article on Puerto Rico's election voting:
The two-part referendum first asked voters if they wanted to change Puerto Rico's 114-year relationship with the United States. A second question gave voters three alternatives if they wanted a change: become a U.S. state, gain independence, or have a "sovereign free association," a designation that would give more autonomy for the territory of 4 million people.
With 243 of 1,643 precincts reporting late Tuesday, 75,188 voters, or 53 percent, said they did not want to continue under the current political status. Forty-seven percent, or 67,304 voters, supported the status quo.
On the second question, 65 percent favored statehood, followed by 31 percent for sovereign free association and 4 percent for independence.
Also:
xkcd.com/1131/