I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

That would only have increased the President's margin, HL!

Good morning all...just finished reading all of your wonderful posts this morning.  Haven't even caught up on our local races and initiatives.  I believe this was one of the best elections in my lifetime, that's for sure.

HL- I thought about that Trump offer...your cartoon, well that outcome would be funny.

I really am surprised Trump didn't give that money to the east coast victims.  What a jerk!  

Sunflowers - great news on West.  Bill Maher has to have someone.......MB's constituents get what they deserve.

Dow Plummeting on some European news - ugh.

Sarah Palin says she is "perplexed" by the results.

Could this usher in a time of reflection????? (I'm not optimistic)

Athena, apparently lion hope springs eternal!  My poor husband refrained from voting in 08, because he could not bring himself to vote for a ticket with Palin on it.

Congratulations from the world - including the conservatives Angela Merkel and David Cameron:

Updated at 8:32 a.m. ET: LONDON -- World leaders from Mexico City to Beijing were quick to congratulate Barack Obama on his victory early Wednesday – but the re-elected president faces a slew of foreign policy challenges in his second term.

"I would like to congratulate re-elected President Barack Obama from the bottom of my heart," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told local television. "We know each other well and I am looking forward to our cooperation ... My heartfelt congratulations on this day today."

British Prime Minister David Cameron and Enrique Peña Nieto, president-elect of Mexico, both posted goodwill messages on Twitter.

"It will give me great pleasure to congratulate him personally on my next visit to the United States and work together for the benefit of our countries," Pena Nieto said.

PhotoBlog: From Obama's old school to his ancestral village - world reacts to US election

Bars and U.S. embassies threw election-night parties to watch the returns came in. At the Redhook American-themed restaurant in London, many stayed up until 4:30 a.m. local time (11:30 p.m. ET) to watch TV networks call the result for Obama.

"I think he's shown a sort of diplomacy and maturity that maybe under George W. Bush we didn't see," Chris Padden, a 27-year-old education worker, told NBC News. "I think we are hoping that he's going to show the same diplomacy over the next four years."

More here:http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/07/14987105-world-leaders-welcome-obamas-2nd-term-but-many-challenges-wait-on-his-doorstep

I find myself amused that Florida and its incompetence in running an election has made them totally irrelevant this time.  No center of attention this time folks ... the country went on without you. 

Perhaps Trump and Palin need to be sent someplace where they can be kept safe from themselves while they ponder their total irrelevance also. 

Linda ... I'm sure that Faux and Limbaugh and Beck, etc. are beating the 'danger, danger, danger' drums as hard as they can right now.  I do feel sorry for the people who live in fear because they fall for it.  But most of it is so downright crazy that at some point people are just going to have to get back in touch with their inner common sense and walk away from it. 

Interesting take from Erik Erickson, the conservative blogger - I was waiting for someone on the GOP side to address the issue of PAC fundiong and whether it worked. Here is his view on townhall.com:

The outside groups need to have a serious accounting. For months they touted their get out the vote efforts, ground game, ad operations, polling operations, voter contact, etc. and they really were full of b.s. for the most part. From national tea party groups that have mostly been infighting to some of the major 501(c)(3) and (c)(4) groups, much was donated and much was squandered with little to no oversight.

.....

There must be a reckoning for how the GOP does business with groups that fundraise off the names of politicians and use all the money for overhead that includes luxurious travel and hotels.

Additionally, the Romney team objectively failed to put on a decent ground game and the supposedly supplemental ground game from outside groups was ephemeral. In 2008, one of the smartest things Barack Obama did was keep his staff in Chicago and use his team, not the Democrats’ usual hucksters.

As long as the GOP keeps relying on the usual hucksters, charlatans, and con artists it’ll keep getting the same results.

More here:

http://www.redstate.com/2012/11/07/the-charlatans/

In fact, I think "big" was the big loser in this election. But in Connecticut, Ohio and elsewhere, we saw that throwing money wasn't what spelled victory.

A lot of Canadian sisters rightly react in horror at the money the US spends on its democracy. Ironically, though, in this Ynkee doodle Dandy land of the big and brask, EVERYONE spends money, so the net effect is neutral.

RR - I only looked at my Congressional seat in California.  We had a chance against longtime dumb luck Wally Herger this time, but he retired.  Enter La Malfa....or something like that, I call him The Mafia. Some sort of State Senator with high name recognition and a nasty way about him (he lied about his primary opponent, but still won, ofcourse).  My county voted 60-40 Romney.  The Congressional district is just that much worse.

I heard Rep Pete Stark lost.  He is a Democrat, but since California went to a runoff scenerio, he was running against nother Democrat.  Pete Stark was a great Congressman, but his age had gotten the better of him, so I hear.  I don't even have to look....Feinstein not even challenged.  Rumors are, Nancy Pelosi will retire at the end of the year, even though she won her seat.  Hmmm....who would be her replacement in San Francisco....??? I'd like to see Gavin Newsome.

As far as Propositions....we kept the Death Penalty, the requirement to label GMO Foods knocked down, and I don't think they went from Brown's tax the rich, temporarily, to get us out of our hole.  Atleast last I looked.

Bentivolio will be a one-term congressman, but boy: is he ever going to be an embarrassment during that one term.

Linda

So happy today. 

I'm still hoping that our (Washington State) next governor will (again) be Democrat, but the counting is not complete, and it's a pretty close race, so we'll see.

which way did Florida end up when all was said and done?  I'm SO glad it wasn't dependent on them! Obama's team did GOOD!!!

BS alert

GOP lie to watch out for: that the markets are diving today due to Obama's win. FALSE! They are falling on comments by the European Central Bank president this morning saying things looked on the dicey side for Germany. So blame the Dow's slide on Mario Draghi. He said, at a conference,

"Germany has so far been largely insulated from some of the difficulties elsewhere in the euro area. But the latest data suggest that these developments are now starting to affect the German economy. This is also evident in the KfW-ifo-Mittelstandsbarometer."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/mario-draghi-germany-speech-november-7-2012-11#ixzz2BYcMv7kd

So headlines like this, at the WashPo, Markets sell off in wake of Obama win

are bunkum!