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.

Rove's On-Air Rebuttal of Fox's Ohio Vote Call Raises Questions About His Role  —  It was 11:13 p.m. on Tuesday, the moment that Fox News had called Ohio for President Obama.  Karl Rove stood just off camera, his phone glued to his ear.  On the other end was a senior Romney campaign official …

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 …

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.

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.”

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...

The best thing about embracing your Hobbitry...  ...Is that you can stop caring what the GOP establishment and its mouthpieces think about you.  —  And you can say things like this: if Chris Christie or Jeb Bush are ever put up for national office, I'll actively campaign against them.

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 …

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.

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.

Karl Rove's election nightmare: Super PAC's spending was nearly for naught  —  Karl Rove was the political genius of the George W. Bush era — the architect of the last Republican president's two electoral victories.  But this week, he may have had the worst election night of anybody in American politics.

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 …

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 …

Republican Reckoning Begins After Revealing Defeat … REACT:  —  FOLLOW:  —  Elections 2012, Barack Obama , Mitt Romney, Elections 2012, Natural Disasters, Republican Party, Video, Ground Game, Turnout, Politics News  —  BOSTON — Republican Party leaders on Wednesday began picking …

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.

Sheldon Adelson's Paper Runs Headline “America Chose Socialism”  —  The headline runs over an analysis piece in the billionaire's Israeli paper, Israel Today.

PFC Manning's Offered Plea and Forum Selection  —  PFC Manning has offered to plead guilty to various offenses through a process known as “pleading by exceptions and substitutions.”  To clarify, PFC Manning is not pleading guilty to the specifications as charged by the Government.

Analysis: 20 states will run their health-law exchanges  —  Twenty states will operate their own insurance exchanges in 2014 under President Obama's healthcare law, according to a new analysis.  —  Avalere Health released its estimate after Obama won a second term on Tuesday …

Bitterfest 2012  —  Four years ago, at just this time, I wrote a column headed “Bitterfest '08.”  I pledged a couple of weeks ago that I would not write such a column this year.  I pledged to myself, I mean.  I said, “If Romney loses, I'm not going to write another Bitterfest column.

Last of ballots being counted by Miami-Dade; results expected by afternoon  —  Long voting lines in South Florida drew criticism, but nowhere was worse than Miami-Dade.  Mayor Carlos Gimenez acknowledged some problems, and ordered a review.  —  CMORGAN@MIAMIHERALD.COM