memeorandum: ‘Making the President Small’ (Thomas B. Edsall/New York Times)

5:05 AM ET, November 6, 2014

Top Items:

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: National Review, JustOneMinute and The Dish

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: Taylor Marsh, Washington Post and National Review

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 Atlantic Online

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:

Reid: Why can't we all just ... get along? — Consider this karma avoidance by the soon-to-be-ex-Senate Majority Leader, but Harry Reid's new act won't fool anyone, least of all Mitch McConnell. Reid has run the US Senate for the past eight years like a dictatorship, steadily eroding minority privileges …

Discussion: The New Republic, Newsmax.com, The Hill, RedState, The Other McCain, Washington Post and Mediaite

Jay Newton-Small / TIME:
McConnell: No Shutdowns, No Full Obamacare Repeal

Discussion: The Hill, Hot Air, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, Guardian, Yahoo! News, CBS DC, OnPolitics, Outside the Beltway, New Yorker, Hinterland Gazette and New York Times

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: Althouse, The Federalist, Inside Higher Ed, Los Angeles Times, Hot Air, Hit & Run, National Review and Patterico's Pontifications

Washington Post:

GOP crafts narrow agenda for new Congress, seeking unity, Democratic votes — Hours after solidifying their control of Congress in the midterm elections, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John A. Boehner are quietly laying plans for a series of quick votes in January …

Discussion: New York Times, Techdirt, Hit & Run and The Atlantic Online

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
‘Hundred-year majority’ for House GOP?

Discussion: American Power, Shakesville and rubber hose

New York Times:
Negativity Wins the Senate

Discussion: Lawfare, Christian News …, Mediaite, Liberal Values, Washington Post and John Hawkins' Right Wing News

New York Times:
After Election, Obama Vows to Work With, and Without, Congress

Discussion: The Nation, Guardian, Power Line, TalkLeft and Washington Post

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:

What really went wrong for Democrats — The most common explanation we're hearing for the GOP sweep of a dozen Senate races last night is that an already-treacherous map for Democrats was made a lot worse by the failure of core Dem voter groups to show up. — But multiple Democratic …

Discussion: 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 — Barack Obama has been elected president twice, but his party has now gotten drubbed in the two midterm elections held during his presidency. He will face a Republican Senate and House.

Discussion: Rush Limbaugh, Bloomberg View, American Power, ThinkProgress, Power Line, New York Magazine, No More Mister Nice Blog and The Dish

Carol E. Lee / Wall Street Journal:
For Obama, a Harsh Referendum

Discussion: National Journal, Hot Air and The Hill

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 Daily Caller, Politico and Liberaland

John Podhoretz / New York Post: A stunning tidal wave of change in the Senate

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: Lawyers, Guns & Money and Weekly Standard

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

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

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, Raw Story, The Gateway Pundit and Mediaite

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: Vox Popoli and National Review

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

Harold Meyerson / American Prospect:

The Democrats' Catastrophe and the Need For a New Agenda — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, joined by his wife, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, celebrates with his supporters at an election night party in Louisville,Tuesday, November 4, 2014.

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money and Seeing the Forest

Jay / Miami Herald & MiamiHerald.com:

Alex Rodriguez's DEA confession: Yes, I used steroids from fake Miami doctor — › — ‹ — For 21 tumultuous months, New York Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez has defiantly maintained he never used banned substances from a Coral Gables anti-aging clinic …

Discussion: New York Times, Truth Revolt, New York Magazine, abc11.com and The Daily Caller

EndPlay / Reuters:

The Democrats Lost Big Tonight. Why Obama Should Double Down — If I were advising the White House right now, I would encourage President Obama to take advantage of the end of this year's election cycle—the next fifty or so days—to immediately try to change the subject, in a big way.

Discussion: Power Line and National Review

Steven Hayward / Power Line:

Climate Change? An Issue for Losers — Ross Douthat nails it in his NY Times blog post-mortem: … Andrew Restuccia notes in Politico: … Will Bunch in the Philadelphia Daily News: … The Keystone pipeline appears to have a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, according to the National Journal:

Discussion: National Journal and New York Times