Progressive Breakfast

Each morning, Bill Scher and Terrance Heath serve up what progressives need to effect change on the kitchen-table issues families face: jobs, health care, green energy, financial reform, affordable education and retirement security.

MORNING MESSAGE: The Triumph of Middle Class Populism

OurFuture.org's Robert Borosage: "Middle class populism triumphed. The president swept key states in the Midwest because his campaign scoured Romney for his Bain record and produced for workers in the rescue of the auto industry. Elizabeth Warren, Sherrod Brown, Tammy Baldwin won by standing clearly with working people against the money interests. Progressives also made gains in the House, but there clearly a flood of late big money helped Republicans stave off many strong challenges. We’ll provide detailed analysis when the results are finally in. Our election night poll results will be released on Friday. Stay tuned."

"Welcome to Liberal America"

"Welcome to Liberal America" writes BuzzFeed's Ben Smith: "The first post-baby boomer president was returned to the White House with the widest, clearest re-election win since Ronald Reagan won 49 states in 1984 ... Ballot measures that had failed for years — allowing the marriage of two men or two women in Maine and Maryland; legalizing marijuana in Washington State and Colorado — were voted into law. The nation’s leading champion of bank regulation Elizabeth Warren handily defeated moderate Sen. Scott Brown in Massachusetts, and the nation’s first lesbian senator, in Tammy Baldwin, was elected in Wisconsin."

President Obama beat conservatism. Mother Jones' David Corn: "In an archly ideological race that pitted a progressive case for government against a conservative assault on government, the president, burdened by a slow recovery but bolstered by a brilliant ground game based on hard-and-fast demographic realities, beat back Mitt Romney, who embraced the tea-partyization of the Republican Party and campaigned (often in an ugly fashion) for the chance to be CEO of the United States.

"A thrashing" says Daily Beast's Michael Tomasky: "Was it the ground game? Was it the 47 percent? Was it Sandy? Was it Chris Christie? It was a little bit of all those things. But mostly it was two big things, and this election was about big things. The first big thing is that a very clear majority of Americans saw the truth about the past four years. Exit polls showed that voters still blamed the economic problems on George Bush’s administration. They thought Obama tried hard and did a pretty good job ... more people thought—finally!—that the economy was headed in the right direction ..."

"The age of Reagan is officially over, and the Obama majority is the only majority we have," says NYT's Ross Douthat.

Democrats claim mandate. Politico: "...Democrats believe their sweeping wins of key Senate races and President Barack Obama’s historic reelection give them new ground to push a more ambitious agenda, ranging from tax reform to an immigration overhaul to energy legislation. Democrats contend they have a new mandate to raise taxes on the rich and drive Washington’s high-stakes fiscal debate over the next 60 days ... 'Given the numbers and given the economy, and given their super PACs – they would have to admit that the policy of obstruction was a political failure,' [said] New York Sen. Chuck Schumer..."

Women made the difference. HuffPost: "According to CNN's exit polls, 55 percent of women voted for Obama, while only 44 percent voted for Mitt Romney. Men preferred Romney by a margin of 52 to 45 percent, and women made up about 54 percent of the electorate. In total, the gender gap on Tuesday added up to 18 percent -- a significantly wider margin than the 12-point gender gap in the 2008 election."

As well as Latinos. ABC: " Obama won 71 percent of the Latino vote while Romney won 27 percent. That's an improvement over Obama's 2008 performance when Latinos backed him 67-31 percent over Republican John McCain and the largest Democratic margin since 1996 ... just eight years ago, George W. Bush won around 40 percent of the Latino vote."

GOP Heads Towards Intra-Party Civil War

Republican leaders stay delusional. Politico: "'The American people want solutions — and tonight, they’ve responded by renewing our majority,' Boehner said. 'With this vote, the American people have also made clear that there is no mandate for raising tax rates.'"

GOP prepares for circular firing squad. NYT:“'There will be some kind of war,' predicted Mike Murphy, a longtime Republican Party consultant, suggesting it would pit 'mathematicians' like him, who argue that the party cannot keep surrendering the votes of Hispanics, blacks, younger voters and college-educated women, against the party purists, or 'priests,' as he puts it, who believe that basic conservative principles can ultimately triumph without much deviation."

Senate Turns Left

Dems keep Senate. LAT: "The balance of power was likely to shift by no more than a seat or two, if at all ... the decision by Republican leaders to stay out of the primary process ceded the field to tea party candidates who then struggled in key states. Voters rejected those conservative Republicans in Missouri and Indiana. Republicans also lost their marquee race in Massachusetts, where Sen. Scott Brown helped launch the 2010 tea party wave ... In Ohio, one of the most liberal Democrats, Sen. Sherrod Brown, won a second term, while in Florida, Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson was easily reelected. In Wisconsin, Democrat Tammy Baldwin, the congresswoman from Madison, prevailed over former Gov. Tommy Thompson to become the first openly gay senator ... In Maine, the independent former governor, Angus King, has declined to say which party he would caucus with, although he is expected to join Democrats."

The Senate will be more liberal. NYT's David Firestone: "Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Angus King of Maine (nominally an independent) replace Republicans. Tim Kaine of Virginia is more liberal than Jim Webb, the Democrat who retired, just as Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Chris Murphy of Connecticut are more liberal than Herb Kohl and Joe Lieberman. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts will be one of the strongest voices in support of Mr. Obama’s policies, and may even push the president leftward."

Sen. Reid calls on GOP to end obstruction. TPM quotes: "The strategy of obstruction, gridlock and delay was soundly rejected by the American people. Now, they are looking to us for solutions."

Dems also make gains with state legislatures. Reuters: "Democrats wrested the Colorado House and New York Senate from Republicans and gained control of the Oregon House, which had been tied ... The president's party also took back both chambers of the Minnesota legislature that went to Republican control in 2010's midterm election. While the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee said the party won control of Maine's chambers, which Republicans also captured in the 2010 wave, the NCSL said it could not confirm the takeover. Meanwhile, Republicans took over the Wisconsin Senate, where Democrats held a short-lived majority..."

Views expressed on this page are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Campaign for America's Future or Institute for America's Future