Here Are a Few Things...

1. Washington Update: I just got an email from the Task Force declaring victory, i.e. that Referendum 74 has passed, allowing same-sex couples the freedom to marry. Further, the National Organization for Marriage has conceded that they lost. It's still not official, but it looks increasingly likely that Washington ALSO voted for marriage equality!

2. This tweet from Shelby Knox is great:

This whole election season women were treated as a special interest group. In the actual election, we made up 53% of voters. #fem2

— ShelbyKnox (@ShelbyKnox) November 7, 2012

3. Jessica did a great state-by-state round-up of the ballot measures that passed and failed yesterday.

4. Puerto Ricans favor statehood for first time. It was a nonbinding referendum, but the results are still very interesting: "Puerto Ricans were asked about their desires in two parts. First, by a 54% to 46% margin, voters rejected their current status as a U.S. commonwealth. In a separate question, 61% chose statehood as the alternative, compared with 33% for the semi-autonomous 'sovereign free association' and 6% for outright independence."

5. Shaker Anitanola passed on this piece by David Simon: "Inevitabilities. And Barack Obama."

6. Shaker wordaddict passed on this piece by Paul Krugman: "The Real Real America."

7. And this piece by Andrew Cohen is very interesting: "Why Mitt Romney Lost: A Simple, Overriding Theory." I don't know that that's precisely why Romney lost (seems another symptom of Republicans, and by extension Romney, not being very nice), but I absolutely think that nothing makes people more determined to vote than telling them they can't.