Romney campaign: We lost Florida  —  President Obama will win Florida when all votes are counted, judging from the makeup of the ballots still outstanding from heavily Democratic counties.  —  MCAPUTO@MIAMIHERALD.COM  —  Though votes are still being tallied, President Obama is all but assured …

Obama's Holding the Cards  —  At first glance, the results of the 2012 election look like a return to the status quo: President Obama was reelected, Democrats retained the Senate, and Republicans held on to the House.  But don't be fooled.  The political dynamic of the next four years …

The Case of the Missing White Voters  —  One of the more intriguing narratives for election 2012 was proposed by political scientist Brendan Nyhan fairly early on: that it was “Bizarro 2004.”  The parallels to that year certainly were eerie: An incumbent adored by his base …

Rove: Obama won ‘by suppressing the vote’  —  GOP strategist Karl Rove went on Fox News today to argue that President Barack Obama “succeeded by suppressing the vote” — an argument that directly contradicts the conventional wisdom that Romney failed to appeal to non-white and female voters.

FIRST ON CNN: Iranian jets fire on U.S. drone  —  Two Iranian Su-25 fighter jets fired on an unarmed U.S. Air Force Predator drone in the Persian Gulf on November 1, the Pentagon disclosed on Thursday.  —  The incident, reported first by CNN, raised fresh concerns within the Obama administration …

The last days of Romneyland  —  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.

Boehner Exclusive: Raising Tax Rates ‘Unacceptable’ but Will Put New Revenue on Table  —  Raising tax rates is “unacceptable” to House Speaker John Boehner as he prepares to open negotiations on the looming “fiscal cliff” with the president and congressional Democrats, he told “World News” …

Vegas Employer: Obama Won, So I Fired 22 Employees  —  LAS VEGAS (CBS Las Vegas) — A Las Vegas business owner with 114 employees fired 22 workers today, apparently as a direct result of President Obama's re-election.  —  “David” (he asked to remain anonymous for obvious reasons) …

Vice President Joe Biden to guest on ‘Parks and Recreation’ — EXCLUSIVE VIDEO  —  Next week's episode of Parks and Recreation is going to have a VIP: the VP.  —  Joe Biden — yes, the very guy who was re-elected Vice President of the United States less than 24 hours ago …

How the Secret Service Said Goodbye to Mitt Romney  —  At some point, early Wednesday morning, when Gov. Mitt Romney and family were tucked into bed, a quiet call went out on the radio channel used by his Secret Service agents: “Javelin, Jockey details, all posts, discontinue.”

Outside spenders' return on investment  —  Tuesday's elections produced some big winners — and some really big losers — whose names never appeared on any ballot.  After outside groups spent more than $1.3 billion in independent expenditures to influence the outcome of the election …

Obama's Congrats Caller: Christie  —  President Barack Obama and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie look at storm damage along the coast of New Jersey from Marine One, on Oct. 31, 2012.  —  Chris Christie, who last year dashed many Republicans' hopes by turning down pleas to challenge President Barack Obama …

As Nation and Parties Change, Republicans Are at an Electoral College Disadvantage  —  Two more presidential elections, 2016 and 2020, will be contested under the current Electoral College configuration, which gave Barack Obama a second term on Tuesday.  This year's results suggest …

McAuliffe tells Dems he's running for governor  —  Terry McAuliffe's head fakes about his widely presumed 2013 run for governor have come to an end.  —  The Northern Virginia businessman is now formalizing plans for his second gubernatorial bid and has begun the process of phoning key Democrats to inform them of his plans.

Federal Judge on Ohio's Ballot Order: ‘Democracy Dies in the Dark’  —  There are hundreds of thousands of ballots left to count in Ohio — and a federal judge is angry about how the secretary of state there plans to count them.  —  Reuters  —  On the day after Election Day …

Jared Loughner sentenced to life in Tucson mass shooting  —  Jared Lee Loughner, who shot former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in the head, killed six and wounded 12 others in a 2011 Tucson rampage, was sentenced to life in prison without parole after listening to some of his victims berate him for damaging their lives.

The Unmitigated Disaster Known As Project ORCA  —  What is Project Orca?  Well, this is what they told us: … Pretty much everything in that sentence is false.  The “massive undertaking” is true, however.  It would take a lot of planning, training and coordination to be done successfully (oh, we'll get to that in a second).

Mitt Romney planned Boston Harbor fireworks show that was scotched by election loss  —  Mitt Romney had planned to celebrate his election as the nation's 45th president with an eight-minute fireworks display over Boston Harbor.  —  The same company that does some of the illuminations …

Conservative Reaction To Election '12, Part I: Despair Not Denial  —  By and large, I've been surprised by the relative docility with which conservative voices have accepted their defeat on Tuesday.  Once the deal went down, there was relatively little talk about “voter fraud” or stolen elections.

Vote was astronomical for Obama in some Philadelphia wards  —  Some Philadelphia neighborhoods outdid themselves in Tuesday's presidential election.  —  In a city where President Obama received more than 85 percent of the votes, in some places he received almost every one.

We Forget  —  There is no permanence in politics.  All is fleeting.  All is cyclical.  We find comfort in our cycle and distress when others rise to the top.  —  Right now, conservatives are bitterly disappointed.  Some choose to check out mentally.  Some have decided to throw in the towel.

Race tied after candidate's wife doesn't vote  —  Robert McDonald learned the hard way that every vote counts.  —  McDonald, who is known to most people as Bobby, finished in a dead heat Tuesday with Olivia Ballou for the sixth and final seat on the Walton City Council.