OBAMA RE-ELECTED WITH SOLID ELECTORAL COLLEGE
challenger Mitt Romney despite a weak economy, pulling off a much closer victory than in 2008, particularly in the popular vote, but enough of a win in the electoral college that the
networks were able to call the election around 11:15 p.m. ET, with them all making the call within about five minutes of each other. Calling the key swing state of
Here's a montage of networks calling the election for Obama: "President Barack Obama has just been re-elected as President of the
carry the state of
As of
There were still two seats undecided in the Senate, but the results that were in confirmed that the Democrats will continue to maintain majority control, with at least 51 seats and two independents, one who does caucus with the Democrats and a new independent senator who's likely to. In the House, there were many races still undecided, but it was clear Republicans would maintain the majority.
CONCESSION SPEECH
Romney gave a brief, gracious concession speech just before
the nation's challenges. He also spoke about bipartisanship, saying he's looking to both the Democrats and the Republicans to put people before politics.
"I have just called President Obama to congratulate him on his victory. His supporters and his campaign also deserve congratulations. I wish all of them well, but particularly the President, the first lady, and their daughters. This is a time of great challenges for
that the President will be successful in guiding our nation."
"The nation as you know is at a critical point. At a time like this we can't risk partisan bickering and political posturing. Our leaders have to reach across the aisle to do the peoples work. And we citizens also have to rise to the occasion."
VICTORY SPEECH
The president delivered his victory speech before cheering supporters in
Some excerpts:
"I just spoke with Governor Romney, and I congratulated him and Paul Ryan on a hard fought campaign. We may have battled fiercely, but it's only because we love this country deeply. And we care so strongly about it's future. From George to Lenore to their son Mitt, the Romney family has chosen to give back to
"I return to the White House more determined and more inspired than ever about the work there is to do and the future that lies ahead. Tonight you voted for action, not politics as usual. You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours."
"In the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties to meet the challenges we can only solve together. Reducing our deficit, reforming our tax code, fixing our immigration system, freeing ourself from foreign oil. We've got more work to do."
"The role of citizen in our democracy does not end with your vote.
about what can be done for us. It's about what can be done by us together. Through the hard and frustrating but necessary work of self government. That's the principle we were founded on."
In some races of note:
Republican Rep. Paul Ryan of
Democratic Rep. Tammy Baldwin defeated former Republican Governor Tommy Thompson
to become the first openly gay person in the Senate. The seat had been held by
retiring Democratic Senator Herb Kohl.
Democrat Joe Kennedy III, son of Joe Kennedy II and grandson of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, was elected in
32-year-old's election marks the return of a member of the Kennedy dynasty to Congress for the first time since Patrick Kennedy resigned from the House in 2010.
Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur defeated Republican Samuel Wurzelbacher, who we all
remember as "Joe the Plumber" from the 2008 presidential campaign.
BALLOT MEASURES
Some of the key items from the 176 measures that were on the ballot in 38 states:
Gay Marriage --
the first time such a measure has succeeded in a state vote. Dating back to
1998, all 32 states that held popular votes on the issue rejected it. As of press time, the measure was still undecided in
Marijuana Legalization --
small amounts of marijuana under a system of state regulation and taxation, while voters in
IN OTHER NEWS:
SANDY-STRUCK AREAS READIES FOR NEW STORM: The New York-New Jersey-Connecticut area that was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy is readying for a new storm, which is set to hit the area today. While it will be nowhere near as powerful as
of towns on the
remained without power.
GUNMAN KILLS THREE, SELF AT
protection, they may not have known they were being fired at. Jones reported for work before dawn, but his coworkers noticed that he, quote, "did not appear to be himself," according to police. He was at work for more than three hours before opening fire. Jones worked at the plant for the past 14 months and had a criminal history dating to the 1990s, with crimes including auto theft and home invasion robbery
OBAMA'S VICTORY TWEET IS MOST POPULAR TWEET OF
- Meanwhile, the same message posted to the
president's Facebook page reached one million likes just 53 minutes after
it was posted.
Four
more years. pic.twitter.com/bAJE6Vom
20 MILLION ELECTION-RELATED TWEETS SENT TUESDAY NIGHT: In other news, Twitter announced at
million election-related tweets were sent out, making this election the most
tweeted political event in
With 20 million tweets, Election Day just became the most tweeted about event in US
political history. #election2012
POSTED INSTAGRAM PHOTOS OF BALLOTS VIOLATED THE LAW: As people began to vote yesterday (November 6th), some of them began to post Instagram photos of their filled-in ballots. What they didn't realize, however, and what began to be announced throughout the day, is that doing so is illegal in many states. The Citizen Media Law Project said that,
for example,
all of these laws predate currently technology like Instagram, but they still
apply, and secretaries of state in several states issued statements during the
day warning voters to stop with the social media photos of ballots.
SILVER'S '538' BLOG DROVE 20 PERCENT OF 'N.Y. TIMES' SITE VISITS BEFORE ELECTION: Nate Silver's 538 blog on the New York Times website, which forecast the outcome of the presidential election throughout the campaign based on his model that does a
statistical analysis of polls, became a source of controversy with its consistently high probabilities --which turned out to be right -- of a President Obama victory. But it also became a big driver of traffic to the Times website. The New Republic reports that earlier this year, about one percent of visits to the Times site included 538. Last week, that number was
13 percent, and by Monday (November 5th), the day before the election, it had
jumped up to 20 percent. Spelling that out, the New Republic says that
means one in five visitors to the sixth-most-trafficked
Further, according to Web information company Alexa, 538 is the eighth-most searched-for term that led visitors to the Times website last month, and it grew more than any other referral term over the previous month.
SCIENTISTS CONTEND CLIMATE CHANGE PARTLY TO BLAME FOR SANDY'S DESTRUCTION: Scientists attending the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America Monday (November 5th) in North Carolina said that climate change likely made Hurricane Sandy much worse than it otherwise would have been, LiveScience.com reports. Pennsylvania State University climatologist Michael Mann said that rising sea levels -- which are
now about one foot higher than they were a century ago -- led to a more
damaging storm surge, which measured a record-breaking 13.2 feet at New York
City's Battery Park. He also said sea surface temperatures off the East Coast
contributed to the flooding by creating above-average levels of water vapor that helped intensify the storm and produce more rain. Researcher George Stone of
ORIGINAL GERBER
Facebook contest, one of more than 300,000 babies entered to represent the brand in 2013. Mary Jane won't replace the original Gerber baby, however, with Ann's face to remain. Just like this year's winner, Ann's image won a nationwide contest, and she became the first Gerber baby in 1928. In 1931, her portrait was trademarked, and she's been the face of every Gerber product since. Ann, the mother of four grown children, now lives in
regular-season games, including the New Year's Day outdoor Winter Classic in
longtime drummer Joey Castillo had left the group, and that Grohl is now behind the kit for the recording of the band's sixth studio album. Grohl previously played on the third
Fighters.
- No reason was given for Castillo's departure from the band. He joined the group in 2002, following Grohl and playing on two studio albums.
CHEVELLE RELEASING COLLECTION OF ‘FAN FAVORITES,’
song called "Fizgig." Frontman Pete Loeffler told Pulse of Radio that he had to warm up to the idea of doing this set at first: "I'm not a huge fan of doing best-ofs, you know -- it feels like your career is over if you do that. So this was kind of, you know, working with the label and I think it turned out good. And, you know, people get a new song out of it, which turned out great, so check that out."
30 SECONDS TO MARS FRONTMAN RETURNING TO MOVIES: 30 Seconds To
Mars frontman Jared Leto first made his name as an actor but hasn't been seen on the big screen since 2009 -- and even then it was in the low-budget and hard-to-find indie film Mr. Nobody. But now The Playlist reports that Leto will get in front of the camera again in a new
movie called Dallas Buyer's Club. The film, based on a true story, stars Matthew McConaughey as a man who was diagnosed with AIDS in 1986 and given only months to live, until he
experimented with underground, non-FDA-approved drugs and wound up living
longer than expected.
Leto will play a cross-dressing AIDS patient whom McConaughey's character meets in
the hospital. With 30 Seconds To Mars taking up so much of his life these past
few years, Leto told Pulse of Radio a while back that he's much more selective about the projects he picks these days: "You know, I don't make films very often. I tend to kind of take my time and wait for things that I feel are really special and challenging and unique, and being so busy with the music is great, because it allows me to take my time and be a little more careful with my choices with the movies."
- Production on Dallas Buyers Club begins next week in
with a tentative release scheduled for next year. - 30 Seconds To Mars announced back in late April that it was working on its fourth studio album, which will follow up 2009's This Is War.
FLYLEAF’S NEW LINEUP MAKES LIVE DEBUT: Flyleaf's new lineup made its live debut on Saturday (November 1st) at the Grand Stafford Theater in
- Sturm left the band on the eve of the release of its third album, New Horizons, which came out on October 30th and is expected to sell between 15,000 and 18,000 copies in its first week of release.
- Sturm issued a statement about her exit from the group she co-founded, saying, "I am very thankful to have recently become a mom to one of the greatest blessings of my life, my son Jack . . . I understand that, for me, living life to the fullest in this season means to step down as the lead singer for Flyleaf."
- The new album follows up 2009's Memento Mori and Flyleaf's self-titled 2005 debut, which have combined to sell more than
1.6 million copies in the
CHECK IT OUT: Watch the new lineup of Flyleaf perform
"Fully Alive":
SOUNDGARDEN STREAMING NEW ALBUM AHEAD OF RELEASE: Soundgarden is streaming its new album, King Animal, in its entirety at iTunes. The stream comes one week ahead of the November 13th release, which marks the first new collection of music from the
Dos!, is streaming in its entirety at RollingStone.com. The disc follows up September's Uno! and comes a month ahead of Tre!, which was pushed up to a December 11th arrival from its originally scheduled release in January.
NEW PARAMORE ALBUM ON THE WAY: Paramore has finished recording its fourth album, with frontwoman Hayley Williams tweeting late last week, "Getting ready to walk out these studio doors for the last time." Guitarist Taylor York tweeted soon after, "So we finished tracking our fourth album. This is surreal. Stoked. I am exhausted. I hope you love it." The disc will be Paramore's first since 2009's brand new eyes and first since the departure in 2010 of founding members Josh and Zac Farro.
BROOKE SHIELDS' MOTHER DIES AFTER LONG
Shields' mother, Terry Shields, has lost her battle with dementia. She was 79 years-old and was responsible for getting her daughter's acting and modeling career started.
JENNIFER GARNER, JARED
Leto is the latest star to join the cast of Dallas Buyers Club which will also star Jennifer Garner
and Matthew McConaughey. The indie film is about a man who survived for six years with AIDS in 1986 by illegally smuggling drugs.
BROADWAY LOSES MILLIONS DUE TO
League, Hurricane Sandy will cost the Broadway box office $8.5 million and a 19% loss in attendance when everything is said and done.
WINFREY'S OWN NETWORK COULD BREAK EVEN BY NEXT YEAR: Discovery chief David Zaslav says OWN is turning the corner. During a conference call to discuss last quarter's financials, Zaslav says ratings are up for the network and he expects it to be breaking even by the middle of 2013.
STARZ SETS 'SPARTACUS' PREMIERE DATE: Starz will premiere the final season of Spartacus: War of the Damned on January 25th at
LINDSAY LOHAN TO BE CHARGED WITH LYING TO THE COPS: Actress Lindsay Lohan is in trouble with the law again. The actress is expected to be charged with obstruction of justice, a misdemeanor, for allegedly lying to police officers following her car accident
in June. Lohan allegedly jumped out of the driver's seat of her Porsche Carerra
and into the car of a friend after rear-ending a truck on the
statement that she at one time said she wasn't driving . . . We know she was
driving. She was probably scared, but to lie to us is a whole different
story."
- Officers allegedly found prescription pills in Lohan's vehicle but she avoided being charged with drug possession because her attorney was able to proved they were prescribed by a doctor for the star.
- While the misdemeanor by itself wouldn't be such a big deal normally, the fact that Lohan is still on probation after pleading no contest to charges of stealing a necklace in 2011 could trigger a probation violation. The violation could land her in jail for a
substantial amount of time. - Lohan has previously been sentenced to jail time but due to overcrowding she's never spent more than a few weeks behind bars.
MILA KUNIS TO EXECUTIVE PRODUCE DRAMA FOR CW: Actress Mila Kunis is trying to transition to being a power broker. Kunis has just reached an agreement to executive produce
a new drama titled, Meridian Hills, for the CW. The drama will be set in 1972 and will follow a woman as she joins the Junior League in a quest to change the system and gain equal rights for women.
- According to the Hollywood Reporter, the drama will be written by Sydney
Sidner from The Rite and will be set in a boozy - So far Kunis isn't scheduled to have an on-camera role on the show.
- The Junior League is a nonprofit organization of women that was founded by Mary
Harriman in 1901. The organization's goals include improving
communities through volunteer work and civic leadership.
CHERYL BURKE LEAVING ‘DANCING WITH THE STARS’? Dancing With The Stars cast member Cheryl Burke has been with the show since the beginning but rumors are swirling that she may be making a move to another popular reality show, The Bachelorette. A
source told E! News, "
- Burke has allegedly been in talks with
source close to the network said a gig on The Bachelorette is "Never gonna happen! Never!" That same source added that Burke has been "begging to do the show." - A second source echoed that sentiment sharing that in order for The Bachelorette to continue to be a hit it's important that they use "real people."
WATCHING TV REDUCES YOUR LIFESPAN, STUDY SAYS: Australian researchers say ever hour of television watched after the age of 25 reduces the viewer's life expectancy by about 22-minutes. For the study, researchers surveyed 12-thousand Australian adults. Participants were asked about general health, disease status, how many hours of TV they watch per
day, and more. They found that compared with people who watched no TV, those
who spent a lifetime average of six-hours-per-day watching TV could expect to
live about five-years less. (United Press)
WHY SOME PEOPLE HATE DOING MATH: New research from the
physical pain. Researchers scanned the brains of participants as they solved problems, some which involved math. They found that the anticipation of having to do math, and the act of doing math activated pain sensor regions of the brain. (Women's Health Magazine)
A
color-blind people have trouble seeing red or green. This is due to a genetic
defect in the color-sensing cells at the back of the eye, called "cones." Vision scientist Jay Neitz and his team found in 2009 that inserting the missing gene into a virus and injecting it into the retinas of colorblind squirrel-monkeys has restored their red-green vision. Neitz is working on a similar therapy for humans.
CUDDLING DOESN'T USUALLY LEAD TO SEX, STUDY SAYS: Researchers at the
behavior and that involves some degree of whole body touching." Researchers found that the average cuddle session is just under 48-minutes long, most couples do it 8-times-per-week, and women like it more than men. (Your Tango)
HOW STRESS CAN AFFECT YOU LATER IN
everyday-life-stresses were more likely to have chronic health conditions ten-years later, compared with more relaxed people. For the study, researched interviews participants eight-days in a row and took saliva samples from them to measure cortisol, the stress hormone. Scientists then repeated the process ten-years later and found those who stressed-out more were more likely to have developed chronic health-conditions like heart problems or arthritis. (Huffington Post)
