What A Mandate Looks Like

Around 2:00 AM I flipped on the TV and dialed in Fox News. Megyn Kelly and John Scott were on. The mood was somber. I went on Facebook.

Have Fox News Channel on. Wow, they’ve really toned the place down. Is this a format change I haven’t heard about?

Too cruel?

Reading online, I see they’ve regained their voice this morning.

“We need somebody who can reach across the aisle,” said host Steve Doocy. “But from the books I’ve read about this administration, Barack Obama in many ways doesn’t have a bipartisan [bone] in his body.”

[Dick] Morris agreed, adding however that “we need to understand just how weakly this president was re-elected, by the skin of his teeth.” The Republican party, he continued, needs to work with Obama “when he’s positive,” but “otherwise, we need to stand up against this socialist agenda and stop him from fundamentally changing the United States. – From Mediaite

Skin of his teeth? Weakly elected? Why not just say Romney finished second while Obama came in next to last?

That’s spin!

Neither President Obama nor Governor Romney cared about winning with a plurality of the popular votes. That’s not the way presidential elections work.

Neither was concerned that Governor Romney won Utah by 48% or President Obama took Massachusetts by 24%. States like those were out of play and disregarded by both parties. Neither spent more than token money in either state on ads or campaign appearances to win hearts and minds.

There is a reason neither candidate campaigned in Connecticut (though because of our collective money we continue to be presidential friends with benefits). We were in the bag for Obama and winning by one vote or a million votes is the same!

The only number that counts and the only goal of both campaigns was Electoral College votes. Governor Romney was thrashed!

The most likely outcome after Florida finishes counting is: President Obama 332 – Governor Romney 206.

People like Dick Morris (“A landslide for Romney approaching the magnitude of Obama’s against McCain. That’s my prediction.”) and Karl Rove (285-253 prediction for a Romney win), who convinced wealthy people to spend lots of money to elect Mitt Romney are probably cranky this morning. When I blow one of this magnitude (not often) I want to crawl into a hole and disappear. I’ll give them a little slack because of that. Professional courtesy.

However, make no mistake, this is what a mandate looks like. There’s no other way to frame it without twisting yourself into a pretzel.

17 thoughts on “What A Mandate Looks Like”

  1. When one candidate wins all of the swing states (or even all minus Florida), it’s a mandate. It’s pretty clear that Obama was the decisive winner last night.

    However, both sides need to come together and work stuff out. We have some really tough challenges facing us, and both sides are going to have to compromise to overcome them.

    On a slightly unrelated note, how awesome is Nate Silver!?

  2. What happened to standing together , as proud Americans? United we stand, divided we fall…….time to come together and stop tearing down each other, or our problems will be even bigger than we ever imagined.

  3. Unfortunately, America has not been united in quite a while. Very sad state of affairs here and it doesn’t look like it will change any time soon.
    Hmmmmmm….where is that hole Geoff? I distinctly remember someone saying that this was NOT going to be snow for us. You are our favorite meteorologist, but people who live in glass houses and all…….

    1. I didn’t say it wouldn’t snow. I said it would be minimal. It’s more than minimal, so in that regard I’m wrong.

      Unfortunately, these things change. A forecast I made three or four days ago is a lot less accurate than yesterday’s–as you’d probably expect.

      Here’s how I judge right/wrong (and please chime in if you disagree). It’s not the exact snowfall amount, or temperature to the degree and wind gust to the mile per hour. Were you prepared? Were you surprised? Were you given enough actionable information to make wise decisions on the storm’s run-up?

      By those criteria this wasn’t a bullseye, but certainly useful. No?

  4. In order to claim a mandate, I think the Democrats would need to have obtained a majority in the house. Not only did that not happen, the Republican majority got larger. I don’t see how this result can be called a mandate, since it further split the government.

    1. Just wanted to correct what I said here – the Republican majority in the house actually got slightly SMALLER, not larger. They still have a majority, so we obviously still have a split government.

  5. Geoff, Mandate is a strech. A beating I will agree with but not a mandate, Most of middle american did not vote for The President. The Left and right coast and the large cites got what they wanted but More states did not. But President Obama won and all we can do is pray its not a mistake.

    1. Ed (and others) – I’ll let Dick Morris set the criteria. Here’s what he said:

      Prediction: Romney 325, Obama 213

      Yup. That’s right. A landslide for Romney approaching the magnitude of Obama’s against McCain. That’s my prediction.

      Obama’s electoral vote will probably be more than that (I am assuming he holds onto his Florida advantage). Landslide!

  6. I would like to add that we switched over to Fox to see their perspective as the call was being made. Can somebody explain what the guy who funded a large part of the campaign for one side, Karl Rove, was doing sitting at the desk as an analyst. That’s fair and balanced?

    1. I believe he was sitting directly next to an analyst from the opposing side (I don’t recall who it was). They had someone from each side sitting at that desk, with Brit Hume also sitting there as the neutral guy. A lot of the networks seemed to have panels made up of prominent people from both sides, that wasn’t exclusive to Fox News.

  7. Ahhh — DEFINITELY a mandate:
    Landslide for Obama (even by Dick Morris’s standards).
    Dems achieve net pickup of seats in the Senate.
    DEMS ACHIEVE NET PICKUP OF SEATS IN THE HOUSE.

    MANDATE!!!!!

    As an added plus, with the new senators elected, there will be TWENTY women in the Senate, and all-time record! How’s that for the power of lady-parts!

  8. Call it what you will, Obama won, Romney lost. Cheer or cry as you wish. the world will keep spinning and we won’t have to deal with this madness again until mid 2015.

  9. Not even close, in a 12 inch storm you would stay off the roads, in a 3 in storm you head out. I had friends who it took them 6 hours to drive home…..Dangerous. Not being critical, but 3 to 6 inches is Not 12 inches. Thanks!

    Here’s how I judge right/wrong (and please chime in if you disagree). It’s not the exact snowfall amount, or temperature to the degree and wind gust to the mile per hour. Were you prepared? Were you surprised? Were you given enough actionable information to make wise decisions on the storm’s run-up?

    By those criteria this wasn’t a bullseye, but certainly useful. No?

  10. Republicans were soundly rejected in the presidential and senatorial contests. Only in the House of Representatives, where the Republicans have had time to redistrict and gerrymander the maps in their favor did they prevail.Even then they lost seats.
    Simply put, if Republicans tell the truth about how they intend to govern, they lose.

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