The Daily Digest, Day After Edition
Welcome to the Daily Digest, where we are running on sheer adrenaline after a long and surprising election night in Minnesota.
Where to begin....
President Barack Obama has won a second term.
He won Minnesota with 52 percent of the vote, while Mitt Romney got 45 percent of the vote.
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Overall, Obama won nationally with 50 percent of the vote, 303 electoral votes.
He swept multiple swing states including Colorado, Iowa, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Obama won by stringing together several narrow victories, the Washington Post reports.
In his victory speech, Obama said there are "better days ahead."
In his concession speech, Romney said, "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 people's work. And we citizens also have to rise to the occasion."
Minnesotans voted against an amendment that would have defined marriage as between one man and one woman in the state's constitution.
Similar efforts have succeeded in 30 other states. And even though Minnesotans rejected the amendment proposal, same-sex marriage remains illegal here.
Last night, Maine and Maryland voted to legalize same-sex marriage, while we're still waiting for results from Washington state.
Minnesota also rejected a constitutional amendment that would have required voters to show identification at the polls, a proposal that looked poised to pass just a few weeks ago.
After loosing the Legislature two years ago, the DFL has regained control of both the state House and Senate.
Democrats dominated Election Day here.
U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann won a close race Tuesday over DFL candidate Jim Graves in Minnesota's 6th Congressional District.
The tightness of the contest appeared to catch both campaigns off guard.
Rick Nolan defeated first-term Republican Rep. Chip Cravaack in the 8th Congressional District.
All of Minnesota's other U.S. House incumbents won reelection.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar defeated Rep. Kurt Bills.
All that said....
Things remain unchanged in Washington.
Republicans retained the U.S. House, and Democrats retained the U.S. Senate.
Republicans will struggle to find direction in the wake of last night's presidential and Senate defeats, the New York Times reports.
2016
Though Romney lost yesterday, the last few months have been good for Rep. Paul Ryan.