Vote today... Mitt Romney or Barack Obama

[Steve Williams]

Several things amazed me last night.......

Within 15 minutes of the polls being closed on the West coast and even while people in Hawaii are still voting, our wonderful media called the election. No suspense there, huh

There was a brief time I saw on the board that the 2 were separated by all of 38 votes. Truly shows how a candidate could win the popular vote but still lose the electoral college votes

 

[rblnr]

Without question, idiots like Akin, Mourdock and Walsh killed the GOP chances of winning the senate.

Big question: will the Tea Party stay affiliated with the GOP after this election?

Yep, will be highly interesting how this plays out.

 

[rblnr]

Several things amazed me last night.......

Within 15 minutes of the polls being closed on the West coast and even while people in Hawaii are still voting, our wonderful media called the election. No suspense there, huh

There was a brief time I saw on the board that the 2 were separated by all of 38 votes. Truly shows how a candidate could win the popular vote but still lose the electoral college votes

These early calls have been a feature of the last several elections.

 

[Steve Williams]

Stocks plunge one day after Obama reelection


well not only did the Redskins' Rule not prevail last night, neither did the market on the day after the election

Adam Shell and Matt Krantz, USA TODAY

NEW YORK — U.S. stocks opened sharply lower Wednesday following the re-election of President Obama. Within minutes of the opening bell, the Dow Jones industrial average was down more than 150 points.

Investors' initial reaction seems negative to the defeat of the more business-friendly Mitt Romney and the continued gridlock in Congress that will make it tougher for lawmakers to avert a fiscal policy crisis by year-end.

Key stock indexes were down more than 1% as the market opened in the U.S.


"After yesterday's 133-point Dow rally, it is not surprising that we are giving some back because the general perception on Wall Street was that a Romney victory would have been better for markets," says Dan McMahon, director of equity trading at Raymond James. "People will have a lot of concerns about the fiscal cliff (getting resolved) and will again question the economic policies and fiscal prudence of the Obama administration."

In foreign markets, investors seemed not yet ready to overwhelmingly endorse Obama's win. In Europe, key indexes opened higher but reversed course and were all trading lower Wednesday. London's FTSE 100 was down 0.3% to 5,867.70, France's CAC 40 index was 0.7% lower at 3,455.07, and Germany's DAX 30 index fell 0.8% to 2,286.02. In Asia, markets ended the day mixed.

Investors are already looking past the hard-fought Obama win and focusing on the virtual status quo that remains in Congress, where Republicans retain control, and the Senate, in which the Democrats still have a slim majority, altered little by picking up two seats.

That means averting the so-called "fiscal cliff" looming in December, when a host of mandated budget cuts and tax cut expirations seem more worrisome than what investors had feared before they knew the outcome of the presidential election. The biggest fear is Washington's potential inability to compromise in a lame-duck session, resulting in a host of tax hikes and spending cuts set to kick in Jan. 1.

One major source of disagreement in the fiscal debate is that Obama wants to boost revenues by taxing the rich. But
Republicans vehemently oppose that approach. Some Wall Street pros, including Ed Yardeni, chief investment strategist at Yardeni Research, believe that Obama's win will result in more turbulent negotiations.

"The chances of going off the cliff probably just increased," Yardeni says.

Only when a deal is forged on tax reform, entitlements and deficit reduction, will investors gain the level of clarity needed to deliver a jolt of confidence to markets, says David Joy, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial.

"Investors and companies need to know the rules of the game, whether those rules are to their liking or not," says Joy. "A (fiscal cliff) deal is more important than the fact that the election is over."

The dollar is trading stronger against the euro, which dipped 0.4% to $1.2754, probably more a reflection of ongoing worries about the debt crisis in Europe. Greece faces its toughest vote yet Wednesday on passing $17.3 billion more in austerity measures to qualify for more bailout funding or default on millions of dollars in loans. The dollar did strengthen slightly, 0.3%, against the yen.

Gold prices had been up as much as 2% overnight but the gains were trimmed to 0.4% by early Wednesday, to $1,725.20, as global investors puzzled over how the election might affect inflation. Crude oil prices were down 1.3% to $87.54.

"The re-elected president must immediately act to avoid the fiscal cliff," says David Kotok, chief investment officer at
Cumberland Advisors. "Massive negotiations lie ahead."

Given that the same political players remain to negotiate a deal, President Obama, in his acceptance speech last night, stressed that the need for bipartisanship.

Investors will be closely watching statements from top leaders of both political parties related to fiscal cliff negotiations, notes Tina Fordham, a global strategist at Citigroup. "Their signals matter most," she says.

Before Tuesday's vote, markets overseas had already been pricing in and anticipating a win by President Obama as investors hoped for the continuity, said Jim Welsh, portfolio manager of the Forward Tactical Enhanced Fund. Foreign investors appreciate the "stability that a reelection of Obama would provide," he says.

"An Obama victory will leave less uncertainty for the markets and probably help what's been better sentiment in Asia recently," said Mark Headley of Matthews Asia Pacific fund. Had Romney won, it would have meant "more uncertainty for a world already with lots of uncertainty."

 

[rblnr]

Market's done very well over the last 4 years and has historically done better w/a Dem pres vs Repub.

 

[Steve Williams]

Whether you voted for him or not, his victory speech was inspirational and uplifting

President Barack Obama Victory Speech 2012: Election Remarks From Chicago Illinois

 

[Steve Williams]

Game,set, match Obama.

Now that the TEApublicans and extremists have had their asses kicked, our government can finally move back to the center and work for the common good.

Still waiting to here if Bachmann was sent packing.

Tea Party favorite Michele Bachmann wins tight race in Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS – Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, the Tea Party champion and failed Republican presidential nomination candidate, secured a fourth term by winning a very tight race for re-election against Democrat challenger businessman Jim Graves early on Wednesday.
Bachmann led Graves by 3,256 votes - or just under one percentage point - out of more than 351,000 votes cast in the Minnesota 6th Congressional District with 98.2 percent of precincts reporting, according to unofficial state elections returns.
In a statement released to NBC News, the Congresswoman said: "It has truly been an honor and a privilege to represent the people of Minnesota's Sixth District in Congress, and I am humbled that they have placed their trust in me for another term.
"I pledge to continue to work everyday to create jobs and do everything I can to make life more affordable for Minnesota's families. Our children and grandchildren deserve a future filled with opportunity in a country that is safe and secure, and that's what I'm fighting for in Washington."
A champion of Tea Party backers of smaller government and conservative on social issues such as abortion and gay rights, Bachmann was running in what has been regarded as the most conservative-leaning district in Minnesota.

 

[edorr]

Tea Party favorite Michele Bachmann wins tight race in Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS – Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, the Tea Party champion and failed Republican presidential nomination candidate, secured a fourth term by winning a very tight race for re-election against Democrat challenger businessman Jim Graves early on Wednesday.
Bachmann led Graves by 3,256 votes - or just under one percentage point - out of more than 351,000 votes cast in the Minnesota 6th Congressional District with 98.2 percent of precincts reporting, according to unofficial state elections returns.
In a statement released to NBC News, the Congresswoman said: "It has truly been an honor and a privilege to represent the people of Minnesota's Sixth District in Congress, and I am humbled that they have placed their trust in me for another term.
"I pledge to continue to work everyday to create jobs and do everything I can to make life more affordable for Minnesota's families. Our children and grandchildren deserve a future filled with opportunity in a country that is safe and secure, and that's what I'm fighting for in Washington."
A champion of Tea Party backers of smaller government and conservative on social issues such as abortion and gay rights, Bachmann was running in what has been regarded as the most conservative-leaning district in Minnesota.

Every institution has its share of clowns. The US congress is no exception.

 

[Gregadd]

http://www.dailyfinance.com/investor-center/market-minute/

New stocks

 

[Gregadd]

Backman wins-West loses http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...eat-running-expensive-nastiest-campaigns.html

 

[Steve Williams]

The final 2012 election results are trickling in this morning and here they are. Barack Obama won 303 electoral votes to Romney’s 206, securing a second term in as President of the United States.. The popular votes are still coming in, but Obama has a slight lead with 59,621,436 to Romney’s 56,989,709. The Democrats regain control of the senate with 51 seats to the GOP’s 45 and the Republicans regain control of the House with 232 seats to the Dems 191.

Only 3M votes separated the two with ~116M votes cast

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

How was voter turnout?

 

[Steve Williams]

How was voter turnout?

It looked very heavy in my area. We had a 15 minute wait

 

[Gregadd]

Sadly more and more states are deemed no win and are ignored by the candidates. Despite the close popular vote the race was called by 11:15 PM EST.

 

[Steve Williams]

Sadly more and more states are deemed no win and are ignored by the candidates. Despite the close popular vote the race was called by 11:00 PM EST.

exactly

The west coast had just close polling with results not even known. In fact people were still voting in Hawaii when the result was called

 

[FrantzM]

Hi

The extreme polarization of American Politics is in part due to the fuzzy distinction between news and Opinions. The ugliest display was that of Fox News, yesterday night. Karl Rove rants and the clearly visible dismay of the entire on-air Talents of FoxNews were far from their finest hour or Election coverage broadcast' from that matter.
There has to be a something that persuades, encourages or compels a broadcasting outfit to present at least a modicum of fairness in its coverage, something Fox News will never be accused of.
Democracy requires knowledge of the issues. The role of the media should be to inform us in a fair fashion. A balanced media allow the People to form reasoned, reasonable and hopefully unbiased opinions. The present Broadcasting rules are not conclusive to fairness and/or bipartisanship.
All that: IMO, YMMV, etc

 

[jazdoc]

Hi

The extreme polarization of American Politics is in part due to the fuzzy distinction between news and Opinions. The ugliest display was that of Fox News, yesterday night. Karl Rove rants and the clearly visible dismay of the entire on-air Talents of FoxNews were far from their finest hour or Election coverage broadcast' from that matter.
There has to be a something that persuades, encourages or compels a broadcasting outfit to present at least a modicum of fairness in its coverage, something Fox News will never be accused of.
Democracy requires knowledge of the issues. The role of the media should be to inform us in a fair fashion. A balanced media allow the People to form reasoned, reasonable and hopefully unbiased opinions. The present Broadcasting rules are not conclusive to fairness and/or bipartisanship.
All that: IMO, YMMV, etc

Actually, the Pew Research analysis of the tone of campaign coverage reveals that MSNBC was by far more negative about Romney than Fox was about Obama.

 

[amirm]

Hi

The extreme polarization of American Politics is in part due to the fuzzy distinction between news and Opinions. The ugliest display was that of Fox News, yesterday night. Karl Rove rants and the clearly visible dismay of the entire on-air Talents of FoxNews were far from their finest hour or Election coverage broadcast' from that matter.

As hard as it is to believe, FOX is an innovator in that space! They figured out that breaking the long tradition of news neutrality would be more profitable. They went there and left CNN in the dust. From an online article:

"Fox News has dominated the ratings of other cable news outlets.[3] Launched by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch and former political consultant Roger Ailes as a refuge for viewers fed up with real or perceived liberal bias everywhere in the so-called "mainstream media", Fox is the undisputed ratings champion of cable news. It's been trouncing CNN, MSNBC and CNBC for years, and draws a much larger audience share than all competitors, including the three major broadcast news shows, combined. It is by far the most profitable news network in the world, on track to earn more than $700 Million in 2010.[4] But the profit motive may cause some of the hostility Fox News has to the conservative positions on important social issues.

Indeed, for over 100 consecutive months, FNC has been the most-watched cable news channel in the country. FNC is available in more than 90 million homes. It is part of the Fox Television Stations Group, a subsidiary of Australian-born media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Roger Ailes was named Chairman of the Fox Television Stations Group on August 15, 2005."

It all comes from Murdock's single minded focus on profitability. I trust you know about the fiasco in UK where they snooped on personal voice mails, deleted the same to make space for more, etc. It is capitalism at its highest!

 

[Bill Hart]

Hi

The extreme polarization of American Politics is in part due to the fuzzy distinction between news and Opinions. The ugliest display was that of Fox News, yesterday night. Karl Rove rants and the clearly visible dismay of the entire on-air Talents of FoxNews were far from their finest hour or Election coverage broadcast' from that matter.
There has to be a something that persuades, encourages or compels a broadcasting outfit to present at least a modicum of fairness in its coverage, something Fox News will never be accused of.
Democracy requires knowledge of the issues. The role of the media should be to inform us in a fair fashion. A balanced media allow the People to form reasoned, reasonable and hopefully unbiased opinions. The present Broadcasting rules are not conclusive to fairness and/or bipartisanship.
All that: IMO, YMMV, etc

Franz- agree, but information is not entertaining. And hardly worth devoting 24/7, constant bombardment of conjecture, opinion and catering to the audience segment. BBC is decent, frankly, I've started reading ex-US news through aggegators and hardly ever watch TV 'news.' Cartoons are actually not just more entertaining, but often more informative.

 

[Bill Hart]

How was voter turnout?

I read an amazing statistic last night out of 206 million, something like 80 million eligible didn't vote.