2012 Presidential Election
November 8, 2012 — Scott Johnson
“Barack Obama, you just won a second term. What are you doing next?” “I’m going to Istanbul!” Michael Rubin comments: Today, Frank Ricciardone, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, announced that Obama’s first trip of his second term will be to Turkey, a country which has witnessed under its increasingly Islamist government an unprecedented roll back of basic freedoms. The Turks are looking at Obama’s choice as an endorsement. They are
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November 8, 2012 — Scott Johnson
It’s going to be a while before I overcome the deep feelings of depression induced by the results of the election this year. Having read Jay Nordlinger’s electoral edition of Impromptus this morning, however, I feel a little better. Jay calls it “Bitterfest 2012″ and fills it up with anger modulated by his wry sense of humor. I know am not alone in my feelings of depression. In this case,
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November 7, 2012 — John Hinderaker
I can see only one good outcome from yesterday’s election: the fact that Barack Obama will be the president who inherits the mess left by Barack Obama. The economy is in awful shape; it won’t get much better given Obama’s policies, and may get worse. Many billions of dollars in capital that have been sitting on the sidelines, awaiting the outcome of this year’s election, will now give up on
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November 7, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
I agree with John’s statement that America isn’t a center-right country. I’ve said this on Power Line and in other public settings, sometimes to derision. We are a center-center country, with the center drifting slowly but perceptibly to the left. However, I disagree with the view that this election represents an unambiguous mandate for more government and “free stuff.” If that’s what the electorate wanted, it wouldn’t have voted in
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November 7, 2012 — Steven Hayward
I think I know what the morning after the 1948 election was like, when everyone’s expectations of Dewey’s victory over Truman were upset. I recall my mother once telling me that normally gregarious people in her west LA workplace walked around in shocked silence all morning. No silence here. We’re in it for the long haul. As T.S. Eliot said, there are no lost causes because there are no gained
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November 7, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
Here is a preliminary list of winners and losers from the election: Some winners Barack Obama. Congratulations to him and his team for another brilliant campaign. Nate Silver. I often come away from his columns thinking I’ve learned something. Apparently, there is more for me to learn. The MSM. To advance its pro-Obama agenda, the media kept the lid on Benghazigate when it counted. And one of its stalwarts, Candy
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November 7, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
Last night it became clear that President Obama’s strategy of winning reelection by “killing” Mitt Romney (to use the words of a Team Obama insider) was a winning one. Obama implemented his strategy through a vicious ad campaign that targeted Ohio, Florida, and Virginia. He also relied on the slurs of surrogates like Harry Reid, who accused Romney of not paying taxes, and Joe Biden, who accused Romney of wanting
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November 6, 2012 — John Hinderaker
It has been a terrible night for Republicans, with hardly a bright spot anywhere. The Senate has gone South, and Mitt Romney has underrun his expected (by me and many others) performance in pretty much every contested state. I’ve been ready to give up for a while, but Karl Rove says it isn’t quite over yet. If Romney wins all of the outstanding swing states: Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio,
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November 6, 2012 — Steven Hayward
With all the focus on key battleground states, no one is making much of Romney’s small lead in the overall popular vote. Hmm. Of course, Obama may rack up a large margin in California and sweep away a small Romney lead, but let’s stay tuned. The generic exit poll information on issue breakouts of the voters is deeply confusing. You can make a case for either candidate from some of
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November 6, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
Ohio now becomes all the more crucial. And Obama has about a 10 point lead in the early tabulated vote there. With Pennsylvania and Wisconsin gone and Florida and Virginia still not declared for Romney, we may be in Nate Silver territory when it comes to the odds of a Romney victory.
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November 6, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
I had hoped that, at this stage of the evening, the news from Virginia and Florida would be favorable, and that we would be obsessing about Ohio. But it looks like we need to obsess about Virginia and Florida too. STEVE adds: Mack was a poor candidate. Looks like between this cycle and last cycle, the GOP has spotted the Dems as many as five seats with poor candidates. Not
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November 6, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
Here is what Team Romney is putting out: OH Exit Polling: It’s showing D+8 which is identical to the historic Dem turnout of 2008. We strongly believe that when votes are actually counted – going to be a much tighter race. FL: Lines in GOP precincts still 2 hours long – lots of GOP votes to be counted. A look at the I-4 corridor: Pasco County: Republicans – all voted:
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November 6, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
Fox says they show that Obama did better than Romney among those who just today decided how they would vote. That would be huge for Obama. Fox also says that exit polls show Obama carrying independents in New Hampshire by 8 points. UPDATE: I believe Fox has issued a correction for the New Hampshire independents. Obama is up by 2 points among independents in the exit poll.
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November 6, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff
Lots of raw vote is in from Florida, about 40 percent. Obama leads by a few points. This vote doesn’t encompass the conservative panhandle area, whose polls are only now about the close. Romney should do quite well there. I don’t know which parts of the state of the tabulated vote comes mainly from, but it presumably encompasses lots of early voters, who arguably tended to vote for Obama. But
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November 6, 2012 — John Hinderaker
Click here to join now! Power Line Live is the place to be tonight. You can keep up on races around the country while chatting–celebrating or commiserating, as the case may be–with likeminded PL readers. We had around 2,000 people at a time in PL Live for the presidential debates, so there should be a good crowd tonight. More than 600 have already gathered. One word of advice: as the
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November 6, 2012 — John Hinderaker
Election Watch 2012 is being streamed online tonight from the Americans for Tax Reform headquarters in Washington. The show is being hosted by radio personality Tony Katz and a number of commentators will appear over the course of the evening. You can watch the show here. Katie Pavlich was on a moment ago, so I would advise you to hurry. I will be appearing via Skype in around two hours,
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November 6, 2012 — Scott Johnson
The Cretan philosopher Epimenides famously propounded the parodoxical assertion that all Cretans are liars. The cretin president Bill Clinton propounded his own version of the paradox yesterday in his capacity as Barack Obama’s foremost campaign surrogate. Campaigning for Obama in Philadelphia on Monday afternoon, Clinton regaled the crowd with his critique of the Romney campaign. “You’re laughing, but who wants a president who will knowingly, repeatedly tell you something he
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