The Daily's Live Election Blog
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Nice shot.
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Markets react
LONDON - Financial markets dropped today on concerns that newly re-elected President Barack Obama will struggle to thrash out a budget deal with a divided Congress, and as the EU cut its economic growth forecasts. The ease with which Obama secured four more years in the White House — avoiding the uncertainty of ballot recounts, as in 2000 — had been welcomed in the markets early in the day. However, as the day wore on, investors grew concerned over the implications of a still divided Congress. U.S. stocks opened sharply lower, with the Dow Jones industrial average down 1.3 percent at 13,069 and the broader S&P 500 index off 1.4 percent at 1,408.
- Associated Press
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As Michelle Obama stepped on stage with her husband in Chicago early this morning, she accepted her role not only as first lady but fashion tastemaker for four more years — this time, wearing a Michael Kors magenta silk chine pin-tucked dress. As Mrs. Obama joined President Barack Obama, she sported a dress pulled in at the waist, and she topped it with a black shrug that showed a peek of a vintage pink brooch from House of Lavande. She was surrounded by her trend-right daughters: Malia wore an electric-blue, A-line skirt with a pink studded belt that looks like the teen version of the first lady’s signature Azzedine Alaia belt, and Sasha had on an abstract-print green skirt, gray bow-front top and mimicked her mom’s shrunken cardigan look. Mrs. Obama has been a reinvigorating force for the fashion industry, from her late-night online J. Crew purchases to her savvy courtship with up-and-coming designers, including Prabal Gurung and Jason Wu. Kors has been a consistent label in her wardrobe.
- Associated Press
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Maine’s independent former Gov. Angus King says he still hasn’t decided whether he will align with Democrats or Republicans when he enters the Senate in January. The former governor, elected to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Olympia Snowe, tells MSNBC he will probably make a decision next week after talking to the leaders of the two parties. He says he wants to remain as independent as possible but also realizes that aligning with one of the parties is important to getting good committee assignments. King says he talked to Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid on Tuesday night, but had yet to speak with Republican leader Mitch McConnell.
- Associated Press
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Ratings (hiccup) boost?
NEW YORK — Diane Sawyer’s Election Night performance left some viewers asking if she had begun celebrating Tuesday’s election a bit early. Co-anchoring ABC News’ coverage, the veteran journalist struck a different manner from her practiced, straight-news-delivering style. Sawyer spoke more slowly than usual while seeming to prop herself on outstretched arms at the anchor desk she shared with George Stephanopoulos. ”OK,” she said at one point around 10 p.m. EST, “I wanna — can we have our music, because this is another big one here? Minnesota, we’re ready to project Minnesota, rrright now. … Well, tonight we know that President Barack has won Minnesota,” she rambled on, stumbling over the president’s name.
In any case, the Twitterverse took quick notice and began cracking wise. Her name was soon trending with unflattering posts, while a new Twitter handle, Drunk Diane Sawyer, collected hundreds of followers. An ABC spokesman did not comment..
Some tweeters joked that a more fun-loving Sawyer was a ploy by ABC to boost viewership. Several Twitter followers said they were drawn to the network by word that Sawyer was behaving, by one description, “a bit wacky.”
“Bad night for Romney,” one tweeter summed up. “Worse night for Diane Sawyer?”
- Associated Press
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Giffords’ seat still open
The contest for former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ seat between her onetime aide and successor, Ron Barber, and GOP challenger Martha McSally is still too close to call. McSally is leading with 105,484 to Barber’s 105,099 votes with 100 percent of the precincts reporting, but the Associated Press has not declared a winner. Earlier this year, Barber replaced Giffords so she could focus on recovering from the 2011 Tucson shooting. Barber also was injured during the shooting.
- POLITICO
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“Federal law still says marijuana is an illegal drug, so don’t break out the Cheetos or Goldfish too quickly.”
That was Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper’s reaction to Coloradoans voting to legalize recreational pot use. Hickenlooper, a Democrat, opposed the measure.
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Obama thanks Clinton
Fox has learned there were just four people in the room when the President received the call from Mitt Romney conceded, POTUS along with campaign manager Jim Messina and senior advisers David Axelrod and David Plouffe. I’m told the President expressed satisfaction that it was a “very classy” gesture in terms of how Romney handled the call. The President then hung up the phone and immediately dialed former President Bill Clinton to thank him. Just four years after calling the first Obama campaign the “biggest fairy tale” he’d ever seen, Clinton and Obama in a warm embrace, the last two Democrats to win two terms.
- Ed Henry, Fox News Channel
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“We are an American family, we rise and fall together as one nation, as one people” — President Obama’s acceptance speech -
Matt Dowd: GOP May Become Minority Party
“This election wasn’t about Romney, it was about the Republican party…The Republican party must think, ‘What are we going to do to adapt to the 21st century?’ Otherwise, they’re going to become a minority party.”
—Matt Dowd, political analyst, via ABC News
