Cartoon of the day: Looking dim 
RANDALL ENOS © 2013 Cagle Cartoons

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Liberal schadenfreude is about to reach overdose levels. Just when you thought the dead horse of Mitt Romney’s campaign had been beaten more than enough — and most savagely by members of his own party — Dave Wasserman at Cook Political Report projects that the final count of the popular vote, which is still ongoing, will show Romney winning 47 percent of the electorate.

Anyone chalking up the GOP’s defeat to supposed “gifts” to Latinos, blacks, and young people is “paying too little attention to how weak a candidate Mitt Romney was, and how much that hurt Republican prospects,” says Andrew Kohut at The Wall Street Journal.

Why Mitt Romney will regret blaming his loss on Obama’s ‘gifts’ to minorities

White people mourning Mitt Romney: Some people took GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s loss on Tuesday harder than others. This opportunistic Tumblr compiles the most heartbroken, furious, and disillusioned responses to the Obama victory from Facebook, Twitter, and news headlines. Sample tweet from Victoria Jackson: “Thanks a lot, Christians, for not showing up. You disgust me.” 

The best memes, videos and gifs to emerge from the internet this week

Cartoon of the day: Follow-up ballot 
STEVE KELLEY © 2012 Creators Syndicate

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(Source: theweek.com)

Cartoon of the day: Sneaking in there
TOM TOLES © 2012 Universal Press Syndicate

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(Source: theweek.com)

Tuesday didn’t turn out the way Republicans hoped. What can they learn from this debacle to improve their odds the next time around? 5 lessons for the GOP: 

1. The GOP has a huge Latino problem — Latino voters account for 10 percent of the electorate, and their share is growing every year, says Chris Cillizza at The Washington Post. The GOP’s harsh positions on immigration helped Obama win 69 percent of Latinos’ votes. Romney got just 29 percent. The GOP’s “huge Hispanic problem” was the reason Florida was a tossup, and it will be enough to make once deep-red Arizona a swing state in 2016. “Texas could even be a swing state by 2020 unless Republicans” see the writing on the wall and find a way to make inroads with Latinos. “The Republican Party simply cannot lose 7 in 10 Hispanic voters in elections and expect to be a viable national party in 2016, 2020, and beyond.”
    
2. Conservatives must soften their rhetoric on abortion — The biggest lesson “from this debacle,” says Joe Battenfeld at The Boston Herald, is that the GOP needs to start winning back women. Putting more women like Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) into GOP leadership positions would be a nice start. Symbolism only goes so far, though. The GOP also has to shed policies that fuel charges that “the party is unfriendly toward women,” and one way to do that is to “reassess their hard-line position against abortion rights.” At the very least, staunchly anti-abortion Republicans need to stop pushing “the rhetorical envelope” when they talk about banning abortion, and whether there should be exceptions in cases of rape, says Lindsey Meeks at The Seattle Times. As Todd Akin found out in Missouri after making his comments about “legitimate rape,” and as Richard Mourdock learned in Indiana when he said pregnancies from rape are “something God intended,” when you’re dealing with a sensitive topic and you use insensitive words, you lose.
    
3. Lying doesn’t work — The Romney campaign’s “most shocking strategy” was acting like “winning was more important than truth,” says Robert L. Cavnar at The Huffington Post. Romney “freely lied about the president, the economy, welfare reform, the auto bailout, major companies, history, and even Americans themselves. He flipped on every single social issue that he had advocated as governor of Massachusetts and stridently concealed his own tax records.” When confronted, he doubled down and told stretched the truth even further. In the end, though, Romney’s failure to be straight with voters “badly damaged his reputation” — and proved to be a losing strategy.

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(Source: theweek.com)

Cartoon of the day: The end is near
DANA SUMMERS © 2012 Tribune Media Services

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(Source: theweek.com)

Overwhelmed by what’s to come on Election Night 2012? We’ve got you covered with The Week’s guide about what to watch for as the votes come in, when to expect big news, and some of the options for how to watch coverage of the results.

What’s at stake? Aside from the big race for the White House, all 435 House seats are up for grabs, as are 33 Senate seats (though only about a dozen are considered competitive). At the state level, there are 11 gubernatorial races (only four of which are truly competitive) and several notable ballot measures dealing with same-sex marriage, legalizing marijuana, and other issues with national implications.

What’s the best way to watch the election unfold? There’s no lack of options. Fox starts its election coverage at 6 pm (all times are Eastern Standard); NBC, ABC, and CBS jump in at 7 pm; and PBS starts at 8 pm. On cable, CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC all begin their election specials at 6 pm, while Univision and Current TV start at 7 pm. Most of those networks, plus CSPAN, will also stream their coverage live over the internet, along with several national newspapers and politics sites. (See this guide from GigaOm for online options.) The Week will also be covering the election in real time, providing news and analysis.

Read the compete viewer’s guide to Election Night 2012.

(Source: theweek.com)

The littlest campaigners — Even with the country sharply divided, the charm of these budding patriots and partisans will surely cross party lines.

Take a look at more refreshingly gaffe-free kids on the campaign trail.

(Source: theweek.com)