Red Alert Politics Election 2012 Winners and Losers

In spite of his abysmal record, a gigantic national deficit, incredibly high youth unemployment and the fact that he has spent his first term in office campaigning for his second, President Barack Obama was projected as the winner of the 2012 presidential election before 11:30 pm EST. Let’s hope the nation can survive four more years of his “leadership.”

Not only did GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney lose the state in which he was governor, he also lost the entire presidential election — by a significant margin in both the electoral college and the popular vote. The Romney campaign team was startled by the outcome of the race, especially considering the number of political pundits who had picked Romney to win.

Controversial representative of Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District Michelle Bachmann has secured her seat for a fourth term in the House, narrowly defeating Democrat Jim Graves. The Tea Party Republican outspent her opponent 12-t0-1, according to The Huffington Post, and won by only 3,000 votes out of 350,000 cast, The Washington Post reports.

Allen West, incumbent Republican in Florida’s 18th Congressional District, has yet to concede his race to Democrat Patrick Murphy, even though Murphy has already given his acceptance speech. Murphy leads by 3,400 votes, according to The Chicago Tribune, but West has called for a partial recount. The fight is the only Florida congressional race yet to be called.

When Fox News called Ohio for Obama, political consultant Karl Rove took issue with it and made it a big issue on live TV. He contradicted Fox’s decision desk and fellow conservative Michael Barone, arguing the Ohio race had been called too soon and sufficiently making himself look desperately foolish in light of Romney’s loss.

During Rove’s meltdown, Barone remained stolid and kept his reputation intact by calmly refuting Rove’s claim that Ohio had been called too early. Despite wrongly predicting Romney would win the presidency, Barone redeemed himself by not buying into Rove’s crazy Ohio theory.

Jeff Flake secured the seat of retiring Arizona Republican Senator John Kyl, holding off Democratic opponent Richard Carmona. The five-term congressman was once expected to easily win the seat in the Republican state, but the race became closer over time. Flake captured just over 50 percent of the vote.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi predicted that Republicans would lose the majority in the House of Representatives, but she was proven wrong by a healthy margin, with the finally tally likely to be close to the current 240-190 split in Congress. On Fox News, political commentator Tucker Carlson said the failure of Democrats to recapture the House could spell the end of Pelosi’s leadership career.

Democrat Jim Matheson defeated Republican challenger Mia Love in Utah’s 4th Congressional District. Matheson is the incumbent in the 2nd District, but he decided to run in the 4th District following recent redistricting. Love, who is the mayor of Saratoga Springs, would have been the first black Republican woman elected to Congress. Matheson won 49 percent of the votes, defeating Love by a mere 3,000 votes.

Question 2 in Massachusetts that would have legalized physician-assisted suicide was narrowly struck down. Proponents of the bill conceded defeat on Wednesday morning and prevented Massachusetts from joining Oregon, Washington and Montana as states that have legalized the form of euthanasia.

Due to the passage of Question 4, Maryland taxpayers will now have to foot the bill for the education of illegal immigrants. The bill provides in-state tuition rates for Maryland illegal immigrants, thus displacing out-of-state students who would bring more revenue for the state and universities. The legislation is estimated to cost the state $3.5 million. Colleges could also face an increased financial burden by being required to make up lost tuition.

Republicans gained a Senate seat in Nebraska when Deb Fisher defeated former U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey to claim the seat vacated by retiring Democratic Senator Ben Nelson. Nebraska is a heavily red state, but Fisher nabbed the seat away from the Democrats by successfully attaining the endorsements of big players in the Republican party nationally, according to The National Journal.

Missouri Democrat Claire McCaskill handily defeated Republican challenger Todd Akin in what was slated to be a Senate tight race. After his “legitmate rape” comment back in August, Republicans across the board distanced themselves from the six-term congressman, including Romney. Things only got worse for Akin as his campaign continued, and he can only blame his embarrassing loss on his careless rhetoric.

Incumbent Republican Senator Scott Brown lost the Massachusetts Senate seat to Democrat Elizabeth Warren, despite the scandal surrounding her law license and her suspicious claim to be of Native American descent. The loss is surprising due to Brown’s popularity in Massachusetts and his willingness to cross party lines on issues such as the repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

The fight over the seat vacated by Arizona’s 2nd District Congresswoman Gabby Giffords is still too close to call, but Republican Martha McSally has a less than one percent lead over Democrat Ron Barber, a margin of roughly 1,300 votes. There are still at least 80,000 votes to count and both candidates have agreed to let election officials count all the ballots, according to the Arizona Daily Star.

Even though Obama won Nevada, incumbent Republican Dean Heller kept control of his Senate seat in a close fight against Democrat Shelley Berkley. Even with the backing of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the senior Senator from Nevada, Berkley was unable to oust the junior Senator.

The 35-year-old challenger to Democratic Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown came up short in his bid for the seat. The State Treasurer was popular among Ohio youth, but ultimately did not have a strong enough campaign until it was too late in the game. The rising GOP star captured only 45 percent of the vote.

As noted by Politico’s Morning Score, Republicans were wiped out in the New England states. On top of Brown’s loss in Massachusetts, Republicans also lost Senate seats in Maine and Connecticut. The House of Representatives, though still held by the GOP, lost congressional seats in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. Ouch.

Were anchors Megyn Kelly of Fox and Diane Sawyer of ABC drunk last night during election 2012 coverage? Sawyer became the laughing stock of Twitter as she slurred words and fumbled over announcements. Some people even wondered if the news anchor had suffered a stroke, but the network just said Sawyer was tired from covering the election and Hurricane Sandy. Kelly’s behavior and comments were incredibly erratic and watching her trot around the newsroom was uncomfortable at best. The actions of these women were also hilarious. This might be the only bright spot in the losers column.

I was sorry to see Josh Mandel and Mia Love didn't win.

I'm not sorry about the embarrassments Mourdock and Akin.

2 posted on 11/07/2012 5:11:21 PM PST by newzjunkey (Obama thanks Pontius Pilate voter Freepers for making him president til 2017!)

Agreed. I was especially saddened by Mia Love’s loss. I really thought she would make it. I hope she runs again.

Glad to see Megyn Kelly in the losers column. Her giddy behavior over Obamas’ win was ridiculous. I think Fox News lost, too, by calling the states for Obama so prematurely. I think they may have lost a lot of viewers. I think they did it to be first and I think it affected the election by discouraging voters who were still waiting to vote.

She was ridiculous, very unprofessional. I’m with you on Fox, I was disappointed with the coverage.

Maybe I’ve just gotten used to all the alternatives available with the internet. I don’t watch as much as I used to, but something has changed with Fox. The spark is gone.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.