Life after defeat for Mitt Romney: Public praise, private questions  —  BOSTON — Mitt Romney began his retreat from public life Wednesday at a private breakfast gathering with a couple hundred of his most loyal and affluent campaign benefactors.  The former Massachusetts governor …

Jon Stewart Gleefully Rips Into Fox News Election Coverage: ‘There Was An Avalanche On Bullsh*t Mountain’  —  Jon Stewart recapped all the big news from last night's election, but saved his harshest criticisms for Fox News, Karl Rove, and in particular, five fateful minutes of the network …

Axelrod: Talk of mandate ‘foolish, generally untrue’  —  Obama senior campaign adviser David Axelrod downplayed talk of an election mandate on the “fiscal cliff” on Thursday.  —  Axelrod said presidents always talk after an election about a mandate, but he called such talk “foolish.”

GOP civil war: Herman Cain calls for third party  —  As the GOP fights itself in the wake of Mitt Romney's loss, calls for a third party emerge  —  It's been less than 24 hours since the polls closed and already the first shots in an emerging civil war within the conservative movement are being fired.

Romneyworld reckoning begins  —  BOSTON — Advisers to Mitt Romney insisted Wednesday that they were surprised by the scale of their loss to President Barack Obama, while big-time GOP donors griped about the campaign's unflinching confidence in the final stretch.

The Meaning of Yesterday's Defeat  —  Yesterday was a comprehensive disaster.  Here in Minnesota, to add a local perspective, not only did the state go for Obama-no surprise there-but the Democrats recaptured both houses of the legislature, and voters defeated two ballot initiatives, one on gay marriage and one on voter ID.

Obama supporters celebrate: No more Israel; kill those motherf***ers  —  Obama supporters out celebrating his win on election night gathered on State Street Tuesday evening.  I asked one man why he was celebrating Obama, and what that meant to him.  He said, “It really means to me …

Sneed exclusive: Jesse Jackson Jr. in plea deal talks with feds: sources  —  Sneed has learned U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who handily won re-election Tuesday despite a lengthy stay at Mayo Clinic for depression and bipolar disorder, is in the midst of plea discussions with the feds probing his alleged misuse of campaign funds.

Boeing Announces Big Layoffs in Defense Division  —  Boeing announced a major restructuring of its defense division on Wednesday that will cut 30 percent of management jobs from 2010 levels, close facilities in California and consolidate several business units to cut costs.  —  The company [BA Loading...

Obama re-election protest escalates at Univ. of Mississippi; racial slurs, 2 arrests reported  —  JACKSON, Miss. — A protest at the University of Mississippi against the re-election of President Barack Obama grew into crowd of about 400 people with shouted racial slurs as rumors of a riot spread on social media.

Little to Show for Cash Flood by Big Donors  —  At the private air terminal at Logan Airport in Boston early Wednesday, men in unwrinkled suits sank into plush leather chairs as they waited to board Gulfstream jets, trading consolations over Mitt Romney's loss the day before.

Kay Bailey Hutchison: GOP can't ‘throw away’ women  —  Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said Thursday that her party must stop treating women as “a throw-away.”  —  “When we talk about women's issues and the social issues, people have to stop acting like the woman is a throw-away here …

The next election already: Bill Daley serious about running for governor  —  In radio talk, he makes compelling case for tough times … Illinois Gov. William Daley.  —  Get used to it.  Because he wants it.  And he's reaching for it.  —  “I've thought about it before and I don't take it off the table …

ISRAELI OFFICIAL: ‘WE WILL NOT CAPITULATE BEFORE OBAMA.’ Warns president's reelection means Jewish state must ‘take care of its own’  —  TEL AVIV — The state of Israel will not capitulate before President Obama, whose “naive” leadership has hurt the U.S., stated Danny Danon, deputy speaker of Israel's Knesset.

Man behind anti-Muslim film sentenced to prison  —  LOS ANGELES (AP) — The California man behind an anti-Muslim film that led to violence in many parts of the Middle East was sentenced Wednesday to a year in federal prison for probation violations in an unrelated matter, then issued a provocative statement through his attorney.

After Obama win, U.S. backs new U.N. arms treaty talks  —  (Reuters) - Hours after U.S. President Barack Obama was re-elected, the United States backed a U.N. committee's call on Wednesday to renew debate over a draft international treaty to regulate the $70 billion global conventional arms trade.

2016 election: Hillary Clinton vs. Jeb Bush?  —  BOSTON — American politics may be headed back to the future.  —  Four years after the country elected a 40-something African-American newcomer named Barack to the presidency, a more familiar political order is poised to reassert itself …

Obama's Victory Presents G.O.P. With Demographic Test  —  A couple of decades ago, Prince William County was one of the mostly white, somewhat rural, far-flung suburbs where Republican candidates went to accumulate the votes to win elections in Virginia.  —  Since then, Prince William has been transformed.

President Obama Begins Work on Second Term  —  Newly re-elected, President Obama moved quickly on Wednesday to open negotiations with Congressional Republican leaders over the main unfinished business of his term — a major deficit-reduction deal to avert a looming fiscal crisis …