memeorandum: The biggest loser in this election is the climate (Brad Plumer/Vox)

9:01 AM ET, November 6, 2014

Top Items:

Now We Can Get Congress Going — Reform the tax code, redefine ‘full time’ as working 40 hours a week, move on the Keystone XL pipeline—there are plenty of tasks ahead. — Americans have entrusted Republicans with control of both the House and Senate. We are humbled by this opportunity …

Discussion: Mediaite, Liberaland, Washington Post, Algemeiner.com, Washington Times, Real Clear Politics and Talking Points Memo

Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine:

The Democrats Have Two Choices Now: Gridlock or Annihilation — Well, that could have gone better. — Shares — A cardinal fact of American politics that has emerged during the Obama years is that demographic forces are slowly and inexorably driving the electorate leftward.

Discussion: Hot Air, Pew Research Center, Taylor Marsh, Washington Post, National Review and Liberal Values

Ron Fournier / National Journal:

Obama Isn't Listening to Voters He Claims to Hear — “I hear you,” the president says. But he doesn't. — Shellacked and thumped by an angry electorate, President Obama declared to every American who voted in Tuesday's elections—and to those who've checked out of the political process—"I hear you."

Discussion: Ed Driscoll and Philly.com

Washington Post:

Transcript: President Obama's Nov. 5 news conference on midterm election results — President Obama held a news conference Nov. 5 at the White House to discuss the results of the midterm congressional elections . — PRESIDENT OBAMA: Good afternoon, everybody. Have a seat.

Discussion: Power Line, Althouse, The Federalist, White House.gov Blog, Inside Higher Ed, Los Angeles Times, Hit & Run, Lawfare, National Review and Patterico's Pontifications

Matthew Yglesias / Vox:

Mitch McConnell may be the greatest strategist in contemporary politics — Mitch McConnell's reelection tonight wasn't very newsworthy. Polls had shown clearly for weeks that Allison Lundergan Grimes was far behind, and far behind is where you would expect a Democrat to be in Kentucky …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and The Moderate Voice

Ezra Klein / Vox:

9 takeaways from the 2014 election — 1) The Democrats lost. — Badly. This wasn't just a tough map. Democrats lost Senate seats in Iowa and Colorado. They lost governor races in Florida and Wisconsin. Hell, they lost governor races in Illinois, Maryland, Maine, and Massachusetts!

Discussion: JustOneMinute, National Review and The Dish

Harold Meyerson / American Prospect:
The Democrats' Catastrophe and the Need For a New Agenda

Discussion: The New Republic, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Seeing the Forest

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:
Reid: Why can't we all just ... get along?

Discussion: Cato Institute, The New Republic, Newsmax.com, The Hill, The Other McCain, Politico and RedState

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:

Dana Milbank: Obama seems numb to this latest ‘shellacking’ of Democrats — “I hear you,” President Obama said to the voters who gave Democrats an electoral drubbing in Tuesday's midterm elections. — But their message went in one presidential ear and out the other.

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News and Hot Air

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
What really went wrong for Democrats

Discussion: Politico, DownWithTyranny!, Washington Monthly and Firedoglake

John B. Judis / The New Republic:
Here's Why the Democrats Got Crushed—and Why 2016 Won't Be a Cakewalk

Discussion: Rush Limbaugh, Bloomberg View, naked capitalism, Hot Air, American Power, ThinkProgress, Power Line, Talking Points Memo, Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine, NBC News, No More Mister Nice Blog and The Dish

Alec MacGillis / The New Republic:

Democrats Didn't Lose Governor's Races Because of a GOP Wave. They Lost Because of Bad Candidates. — I knew Democrat Anthony Brown was in trouble in the race for Maryland governor when every single voter I spoke with Tuesday—including several who voted for Barack Obama …

Discussion: Baltimore Sun, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Weekly Standard and American Spectator

Washington Post:
Republican Larry Hogan wins Md. governor's race in stunning upset

Discussion: The Agonist, No More Mister Nice Blog, Hot Air, The Daily Caller and Conservatives4Palin

Rebecca Leber / The New Republic:

Congratulations, Voters. You Just Made This Climate Denier the Most Powerful Senator on the Environment. — In handing Republicans control of the Senate on Tuesday, Americans effectively voted for the party's hostile plans against President Barack Obama's environmental legacy.

Discussion: Raw Story, Firedoglake, Little Green Footballs and Hit & Run

Brad Plumer / Vox:
The biggest loser in this election is the climate

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News, Grist and Mashable

Steven Hayward / Power Line:
Climate Change? An Issue for Losers

Discussion: National Journal and Politico

Tom Brune / Newsday:

Steve Israel, outgoing Democratic House campaign chief, sees 2016 hope — WASHINGTON — The political climate for Democrats can only get better in 2016, said Rep. Steve Israel, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, on the day after Republicans swept into power in the Senate …

Discussion: Politico, Talking Points Memo and Hot Air

David Wasserman / The Cook Political Report:
First Impressions: Historic GOP House Majority

Discussion: New York Times, The New Republic, Talking Points Memo and Washington Monthly

Betsy Woodruff / Slate:

Wisconsin Three-Peat — Why no one can beat Scott Walker. — WEST ALLIS, Wisconsin—"First off, I want to thank God." — Gov. Scott Walker had just come on stage at the State Fair Exposition Center to give his third victory speech in four years, and the supporters mashed up in front of the stage were totally losing it.

Discussion: Althouse

Daily Mail:

EXCLUSIVE - Navy SEAL who killed bin Laden revealed: Rob O'Neill named as SEAL Team Six hero who shot 9/11 mastermind three times in head - and has already inspired series of Hollywood films — SEAL Rob O'Neill named ahead of Fox News interview in which he will tell how he killed bin Laden and why he is giving up his anonymity

Discussion: Gawker, New York Magazine, The Gateway Pundit, FOX News Radio, Raw Story and Mediaite

Politico:

Personhood movement loses both state initiatives — The anti-abortion personhood movement failed key tests Tuesday in North Dakota and Colorado, with voters rejecting amendments to grant the unborn constitutional rights. — In North Dakota — a strongly anti-abortion state considered …

Discussion: CNN and Outside the Beltway

Ed O'Keefe / Washington Post:

Joe Manchin on election results: ‘This is a real ass-whuppin’ — Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W. Va.) did not mince words on Wednesday when asked to describe the historic losses by congressional Democrats. — “This is a real ass-whuppin,” he said. — Manchin is a moderate first-term senator …

Discussion: Mediaite, Power Line and Talking Points Memo

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
McConnell expected to woo King, Manchin

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, The Portland Press Herald, Outside the Beltway, Washington Post, The Daily Caller, Politico, Hinterland Gazette and Liberaland

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard / Telegraph:

Mario Draghi's efforts to save EMU have hit the Berlin Wall — If the ECB tries to press ahead with QE, Germany's central bank chief will resign. If it does not do so, the eurozone will remain stuck in a lowflation trap and Mario Draghi will resign — Mario Draghi has finally overplayed his hand.

Discussion: National Review and Vox Popoli

Daily Mail:

WHAT LANDSLIDE? Obama threatens vetoes and executive orders - including immigration reform THIS YEAR - after Americans reject him by giving Republicans historic gains in Congress — And 'I'll take some actions that some in Congress will not like,' Obama added, referring to threatened executive orders

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon