The Grand Election Thread

[CountDeMoney]

That's fucked up, Mittens.  We know you like to fire people, but man...

BOSTON -- From the moment Mitt Romney stepped off stage Tuesday night, having just delivered a brief concession speech he wrote only that evening, the massive infrastructure surrounding his campaign quickly began to disassemble itself.

Aides taking cabs home late that night got rude awakenings when they found the credit cards linked to the campaign no longer worked.

"Fiscally conservative," sighed one aide the next day.

In conversations on Wednesday, aides were generally wistful, not angry, at how the campaign ended. Most, like their boss, truly believed the campaign's now almost comically inaccurate models, and that a victory was well within their grasp.

(Outside Republicans and donors are another story. Some are angry over what they felt was an overly rosy picture painted by the campaign, and at what amounts to the loss of their investment.)

Yesterday afternoon, campaign manager Matt Rhoades thanked the staff in one last meeting at the campaign's Boston HQ, as did Romney and his wife, Ann.

Romney was stoic - thanking the team for their hard work and telling them he did not plan to disappear. (Aides to Romney said they were optimistic he would be receptive to a sincere offer from the president to work together)

Ann Romney's remarks brought several staffers to tears as she told the assembled group that they would always be part of the fabric of the Romney family.

After their speeches, Tagg Romney drove the former candidate and his wife home to Belmont.

The office at 585 Commercial St. was largely packed up by the close of business Wednesday (one aide said it looked like it had been sacked by Visigoths), but some staffers will return today to remove their things.

The Mitt Romney for President financial entity survives for as long as two more years, as bills are paid and FEC documents are filed.

Thousands of hours of campaign and family videos stored on a server will soon find a home for safekeeping for the family.

Many Romney aides borrowed from the Capitol Hill staffs of other top Republicans, like John Boehner and Paul Ryan, return to work this week.

Most everyone else takes a break and starts looking for work again -- with vacations planned in the mountains of Colorado, rounds of golf booked in Florida and rental vans on hold to move lives back to D.C. and other parts unknown.

It's dry season for campaign operatives though, and a few aides said they expect it to be January before they're re-employed. Some said they would be quitting politics, at least for now.

In the meantime, lots of Marriott points will be cashed in.

[Eddie Teach]

Tagg Romney

Oh geeze, the Republicans nominated Sarah Palin again, but this time in the top spot. 

[merithyn]

How come no one is talking about the changes that California implemented for elections this year?

I like the idea of what they've done, but am not sure of the long-term implications. Basically, they allowed only the top two people in the primaries - regardless of party - to be on the ballot, so there were several races with two Democrats or two Republicans. They also hired an outside, non-partisan company to redraw their representative boundaries rather than having the reigning party do it.

Thoughts? Good? Bad?

[garbon]

My guess would because we no longer have any Californians.

[garbon]

That's fucked up, Mittens.  We know you like to fire people, but man...

He lost. You can stop bashing him over minor items.

[Kleves]

Basically, they allowed only the top two people in the primaries - regardless of party - to be on the ballot, so there were several races with two Democrats or two Republicans.

California is so innovative and forward-looking*.





* Washington has had this system for years, and Louisiana has been doing it for decades. 

[Maximus]

I'm not so sure about that part, but the redistricting system looks like a good idea. It would be hard to get completely nonpartisan, but easy to get much less partisan than the legislature.

[Barrister]

I'm not so sure about that part, but the redistricting system looks like a good idea. It would be hard to get completely nonpartisan, but easy to get much less partisan than the legislature.

American acceptance of overt gerrymandering always struck me as odd.

Of course you can never be 100% nonpartisan, but you can at least try.

[Viking]

I'm not so sure about that part, but the redistricting system looks like a good idea. It would be hard to get completely nonpartisan, but easy to get much less partisan than the legislature.

American acceptance of overt gerrymandering always struck me as odd.

Of course you can never be 100% nonpartisan, but you can at least try.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2012/11/07/how_ridiculous_gerrymanders_saved_the_house_republican_majority.html

How Ridiculous Gerrymanders Saved the House Republican Majority
By David Weigel | Posted Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012, at 8:28 AM ET


COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Mitt Romney made a late play for Pennsylvania. Super PACs dive-bombed the state with ads; the candidate made two stops to the state in the last 48 hours of the race. Despite that, the president carried the state by 5 points, similiar to the margin Al Gore won by in 2000. And despite that, this was what happened in Pennsylvania's House races.


Screen shot 2012-11-07 at 9.41.41 AM by daveweigel1981, on Flickr

Maybe you can't tell, but this map, with Republican-held seats in red and Democratic seats in blue, shows the president's party with five of Pennsylvania's 13 House seats. Democrats have been packed into three uncompetitive seats around Philadelphia, an uncompetitive seat in the Lehigh Valley, and a safe seat in Pittsburgh. The state's suburbs, exurbs, and rural areas have been rigged to be just outside the range where Democrats might win them.
Here's Ohio, a state the president won by 2 points.


Screen shot 2012-11-07 at 9.44.39 AM by daveweigel1981, on Flickr

Same deal. Democrats have been packed into four deep blue districts. Republicans have given themselves the other 14. They controlled the process in North Carolina and Michigan, and gave themselves similar maps. To be perfectly fair, Democrats played the same game in Illinois and Maryland, squeezing out suburban Republicans by packing just enough of Cook County and Montgomery County, respectively, into their districts. But in states that weren't very gerrymandered, like Iowa and Colorado and New Hampshire, you ddin't see a huge divergence between the presidential vote and the House votes. Had some ruthless court gerrymander evenly divided Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and North Carolina, and had Democrats been able to distribute their votes differently, they could have won up to a dozen more seats, knocking on the door of the majority. I predicted this two months ago, but the ridigity of the gerrymander is more impressive when you see it hold off a minor wave.

[merithyn]

California is so innovative and forward-looking*.
* Washington has had this system for years, and Louisiana has been doing it for decades. 

Arizona is looking to follow suit soon, too. That's not the point, since both Washington and Louisiana have a miniscule population compared to California. The sheer number of representatives make it a different game.

[DGuller]

I'm not so sure about that part, but the redistricting system looks like a good idea. It would be hard to get completely nonpartisan, but easy to get much less partisan than the legislature.

Actually, it can be trivially easy.  Census has a metric shitload of data.  All you have to agree upon is the mathematical algorithm that takes census data as an input, and produces optimal congressional districts.  This process can be completely put on autopilot, once you settle on the parameters.

[Viking]

I'm not so sure about that part, but the redistricting system looks like a good idea. It would be hard to get completely nonpartisan, but easy to get much less partisan than the legislature.

Actually, it can be trivially easy.  Census has a metric shitload of data.  All you have to agree upon is the mathematical algorithm that takes census data as an input, and produces optimal congressional districts.  This process can be completely put on autopilot, once you settle on the parameters.

Computers can do that for you.

[Maximus]

Actually, it can be trivially easy.  Census has a metric shitload of data.  All you have to agree upon is the mathematical algorithm that takes census data as an input, and produces optimal congressional districts.  This process can be completely put on autopilot, once you settle on the parameters.

Sure, the algorithm is trivial. The agreement is what's hard.

[DGuller]

Computers can do that for you.

Do what, settle upon parameters?

[Ed Anger]

The ballot issue in Ohio to form a 'non partisan' redistircting board failed.