ABC News Exclusive: Nancy Pelosi Seriously Considers Staying as Democratic Leader  —  In the Wake of Tuesday's Shellacking, the Current Speaker May Remain in Congress and in Leadership  —  In the wake of Tuesday's shellacking, outgoing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-CA …

Sen. Patty Murray wins fourth term  —  Democrat Patty Murray has won a fourth term to the U.S. Senate.  Her Republican challenger, Dino Rossi, conceded the race Thursday evening after new vote totals showed Murray widening her lead.  —  Sen. Patty Murray has won a fourth term …

GOP Voters Like Three Candidates Best for 2012  —  OK, the election's over, and the message from most voters was that they didn't care much for President Obama's agenda.  Now the focus is on the race for the presidency in 2012.  —  On the Republican side, it's a dead heat between the ex-governors …

Fuzzy Math Dogs Obama's Asia Trip  —  As if Tuesday's shellacking wasn't enough, President Barack Obama is getting pilloried by the right on the cost of his 10-day trip to Asia, with outlandish hyperventilation going directly from suspect Indian media reports to conservative U.S. media outlets …

Geithner Visited Jon Stewart in April, Though Not for Laughs  —  In the midst of debates on financial regulation and China's currency in April, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner sat down to discuss the U.S. economy — with comedian Jon Stewart.  —  Geithner and Stewart, host of Comedy Central's …

GOP candidate slams the NRCC  —  North Carolina Republican congressional candidate Renee Ellmers might well be headed to Washington — but she's slamming the National Republican Congressional Committee regardless.  —  In a 471-word statement posted on her campaign website Thursday afternoon …

The Day After the Day After  —  O.K., you poor little Democrats.  Stop sobbing.  Lift up your little liberal heads and shout.  There's gonna be. ...  Umm.  —  Harry Reid!  There's gonna be more Harry Reid!  Nobody thought it could happen, but the charisma-challenged Senate majority …

Exit Polling Shows Gay Voters Played Important Role in Republican Victories in the U.S. House  —  For Immediate Release  —  GOP Captures almost 1/3 of Gay Vote in House Races  —  (Washington, D.C.) - Exit polling reveals that gay and lesbian voters played a critical role …

Rep. Grayson: Dems lost because of ‘appeasement’  —  House Democrats were swept out of power because party leaders tried to hard to “appease” Republicans on major issues, said a high-profile member Thursday who lost his seat.  —  Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) said Democratic leaders …

BREAKING in Illinois: CNN projects Democratic Gov. win  —  (CNN) - Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn has narrowly won his bid for a full term in Illinois, CNN projects.  He defeated Republican challenger Bill Brady and three other minor candidates.  Quinn was lieutenant governor in 2009 …

Palin ‘favorites’ photo that claims Obama is a ‘Taliban Muslim’  —  (Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly reported that Sarah Palin had retweeted a posting by Ann Coulter.  Palin had starred the posting, which marks it as a “favorite.")  —  Updated 9:32 p.m.

Devastation: GOP Picks Up 680 State Leg.  Seats  —  While the Republican gains in the House and Senate are grabbing the most headlines, the most significant results on Tuesday came in state legislatures where Republicans wiped the floor with Democrats.  —  Republicans picked up 680 seats …

The Midterms: Lessons Learned and the Way Forward  —  Now that the dust has settled on the 2010 midterm elections, it's slowly becoming clear just how monumental the results really are.  We saw an extreme left-wing agenda suffer a crushing defeat.  At the ballot box, voters took Obamacare …

Former Coleman attorney, law experts: Emmer has steep hill to climb  —  St. Paul, Minn. — Republican Tom Emmer will have a hard time finding enough votes to overcome Democrat Mark Dayton's lead in the governor's race, recount attorneys and election law experts said Thursday.

Chris Christie: ‘Zero chance’ for 2012 bid  —  New Jersey GOP Gov. Chris Christie said he is growing frustrated by having to constantly deny that he is running for president.  —  “Short of suicide, I don't really know what I'd have to do to convince you people that I'm not running,” …

Pawlenty Inadvertently Explains How House Republicans Are ‘Lying To You’ About Spending Cuts  —  As ThinkProgress has repeatedly noted, despite their professed commitment to cut government spending, most Republicans in Congress refuse to propose specifics that would actually cut spending in any significant way.

WHY WHINE ABOUT SUCCESS?.... In his speech at the Heritage Foundation today, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) repeatedly complains about “bailouts.”  It seemed like an odd point to whine about — in 2008, McConnell not only endorsed and voted for the financial industry bailout …