memeorandum: Holder undecided on staying on as Obama's attorney general (David Ingram/Reuters)

3:25 PM ET, November 8, 2012

Top Items:

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

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 …

Discussion: Poynter, Mediaite, Taylor Marsh and Mother Jones, more at Mediagazer »

Josh Feldman / Mediaite:

Jon Stewart Gleefully Rips Into Fox News Election Coverage: ‘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 in near-pandemonium …

Discussion: Business Insider, Booman Tribune, The Raw Story and The Week

Michael Isikoff / Open Channel:
Karl Rove's election nightmare: Super PAC's spending was nearly for naught

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Sunlight Foundation …, The Atlantic Online, The Raw Story, First Read, Election 2012, msnbc.com and Prairie Weather

Politico:

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.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs, The Mahablog, New York Times, No More Mister Nice Blog, Wake up America, Connecting.the.Dots, Balloon Juice and Power Line

Erick Erickson / RedState:

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.

Discussion: The Other McCain, The Lonely Conservative and Fox News

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:

Conservative Reaction To Election '12, Part II: More, Not Less, Ideology, Please — A second notable characteristic of conservative reaction to Tuesday's election results is the iron conviction that Republican pols from Mitt Romney on down did a poor job of articulating why and how the …

Discussion: National Review, Hullabaloo and Eschaton

Ashley Killough / CNN:

LaTourette: Tea party response to Romney loss is ‘crap’ — (CNN) - After some tea party leaders blamed Mitt Romney's loss in the presidential election on his lack of conservatism, Rep. Steve LaTourette of Ohio, a moderate Republican who announced his retirement in July, offered sharp criticism to their reaction.

Discussion: WEWS-TV, Politico and ABCNEWS

Joshua Green / Business Week:
Obama's Holding the Cards

Discussion: The Atlantic Online

Jay Nordlinger / National Review:
Bitterfest 2012 — Four years ago, at just this time …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Right Wing Nut House, Power Line and Balloon Juice

Alex Seitz-Wald / Salon:
GOP civil war: Herman Cain calls for third party

Discussion: US News, Politico, Outside the Beltway, The Agonist, Althouse, americanthinker.com, msnbc.com, The Daily Caller, Washington Post and Ballot Box

Sean Trende / Real Clear Politics:

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 …

Discussion: Power Line, BobKrumm.com, 24Ahead, Battleground Watch and Israel Matzav

Sean Trende / Real Clear Politics:
The Case of the Missing White Voters

Discussion: ABCNEWS, National Review and American Spectator

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Looking at the national exit poll

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Power Line, The PJ Tatler, Washington Monthly, iOwnTheWorld.com, National Review and The Daily Caller

Jason Wallace / CBS Las Vegas:

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) …

Discussion: BuzzFeed, Hot Air, Crooks and Liars, Human Events, Weasel Zippers, Wake up America and Gawker

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:

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 …

Discussion: Wonkblog, theGrio and New York Magazine

New York Times:
Obama Campaign Clawed Back After a Dismal Debate

Discussion: GOP 12 and Business Insider

Robert Costa / National Review:
Romney Adviser: It Was the Messaging

Discussion: Wonkblog, Questions and Observations, americanthinker.com, CNN, Weasel Zippers, Hot Air, New York Magazine and Washington Examiner

Dan Snierson / Inside TV:

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 …

Discussion: E! Online, The Hill, CNN, Guardian, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, DCist, The Daily Caller, Towleroad News #gay, Gawker and The Raw Story

Bill Carter / New York Times:
No Method Acting: On Sitcom, Biden Plays Biden

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Washington Examiner, Business Insider, NewsBusters.org and Weekly Standard

Gabrielle Giffords / This Just In:

‘Gabby would trade her own life to bring back any one of those you savagely murdered’ — Editor's note: Jared Loughner, the Arizona man who pleaded guilty to the January 2011 attempted assassination of then-U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, will be sentenced Thursday.

Discussion: Towleroad News #gay and CNN

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:

Giffords confronts her shooter in court: ‘Done thinking about you’ — Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and her husband confronted the man who nearly took her life at an emotional court session on Thursday in Arizona. — Giffords's husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly …

Discussion: Associated Press

David Ingram / Reuters:

Holder undecided on staying on as Obama's attorney general — (Reuters) - Attorney General Eric Holder said on Thursday he has not decided whether to stay on as the chief U.S. law enforcement officer in President Barack Obama's second term. — Holder, speaking to law students at the University …

Discussion: The Hill, CNN, Hot Air and Weekly Standard

Matt Higgins / CBS DC:
Holder Announces He Might Not Stay On As Attorney General

Discussion: LifeNews.com, The Raw Story, The Daily Caller and Washington Examiner

Barbara Starr / CNN:

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 last week, CNN has learned. — The incident raises fresh concerns within the Obama administration about Iranian military aggression in crucial Gulf oil shipping lanes.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, The Jawa Report and The Agonist

Glen Johnson / Boston Globe:

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 …

Discussion: The Hill and Towleroad News #gay

Jeff G. / protein wisdom:

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.

Discussion: The Jawa Report

Ann Coulter / Official:
DON'T BLAME ROMNEY — We spent billions of dollars and billions …

Discussion: Hot Air and The Daily Caller

Ben White / Politico:

Will CEOs come to Obama's aid? - Markets keep sliding - Boehner bending? - Obama claims mandate - More Elizabeth Warren speculation — WILL CHIEF EXECUTIVES COME TO OBAMA'S AID? — One smart former top GOP operative emails: “You should start a pool — what day will the 80 CEOs who signed …

Discussion: Firedoglake, Wall Street Journal, DealBook and naked capitalism

CNBC:

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...

Discussion: Twitchy, Weasel Zippers, Israel Matzav, americanthinker.com, Taylor Marsh, UrbanGrounds, Scared Monkeys and The Lonely Conservative

Michael Sneed / Chicago Sun Times:

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.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Gateway Pundit, CBS Chicago, The Hill and Outside the Beltway

Jon Ward / The Huffington Post:

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 …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Firedoglake, Guardian, The Confluence, The American Conservative, Brad DeLong, Mother Jones, The Mahablog, American Prospect, New York Times, Hot Air and RedState

Michael Gordon / Observer:

Obama re-election sends U.S. down ‘path of destruction,’ says Franklin Graham — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — On the day of his father's 94th birthday, and the day after the country re-elected President Barack Obama president, evangelist Franklin Graham gave two-pronged advice to the American people:

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

New York Times:

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.

Discussion: New York Magazine, Hit & Run and Progressive Change …

Zeke Miller / BuzzFeed:

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