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Buzz Cut:
• GOP romps & rolls: Takes Senate
• Obama stumps deepen Dems’ slump
• It’s 2016 already: What midterm tally means
• That mask is so…you!

GOP ROMPS & ROLLS: TAKES SENATE
Fox News: “Voters handed control of the Senate to Republicans for the first time in eight years on Tuesday, putting the GOP in charge of Congress for the remainder of President Obama’s term. Republicans swept to victory in a string of contests across the country, retaining every one of the GOP-held seats up for grabs and picking up more than the six seats needed to take control of the Senate… Republicans also are projected to retain control of the House -- and gain at least 12 seats, expanding their majority beyond their post-World War II record of 246 seats set in 1946… Republicans picked up seats in territory all over the country Tuesday night.”

“In North Carolina, Thom Tillis, a Republican member of the state legislature, is projected to oust U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, a first-term Democrat, in a closely fought race that saw spending top $100 million. [In Iowa] Republican Joni Ernst also beat Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley…”

“In Montana, Republican Steve Daines defeated Democrat Amanda Curtis, flipping control of the seat to the Republican Party for the first time since 1913.”

“In Colorado, GOP Rep. Cory Gardner ousted first-term Democratic Sen. Mark Udall. [In South Dakota] Republican Mike Rounds also won the race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson.”

In Arkansas - “GOP Rep. Tom Cotton unseated two-term Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor…”

In West Virgina - “[Republican] Shelley Moore Capito beat Democrat Natalie Tennant.”

GOP holds their own - “In a vital set of victories that helped put the party on the path to the majority, Republicans also held onto all three [GOP held] seats that were in contention this year. In Kentucky, [Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell] defeated Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, Kentucky’s secretary of state. Republican David Perdue, former CEO of Dollar General, beat Democrat Michelle Nunn for the open Georgia Senate seat; and three-term Republican Sen. Pat Roberts survived the political scare of his life by beating independent challenger Greg Orman in Kansas.

Dems hold on to New Hampshire - “In a setback for Republicans, Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen beat Republican challenger Scott Brown, despite Brown's late-surging campaign.”

Icing on the cake? - “The Senate race in Alaska also is not yet called.”

Battle for the Bayou goes on - “[T]he Louisiana Senate race will go to a runoff on Dec. 6…Based on exit polling, Fox projects that three-term Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu and Republican challenger Bill Cassidy will both fail to exceed 50 percent of the vote, sending both into a runoff, this time without competition from candidates such as Republican Rob Maness.”

[Air wars rev-up - Washington Examiner: “A group backed by billionaires Charles and David Koch will start an airwave blitz in Louisiana on Wednesday. Ahead of a Dec. 6 runoff for the Louisiana Senate seat between Democratic incumbent Sen. Mary Landrieu and Republican nominee Bill Cassidy, Freedom Partners Action Fund said late Tuesday it will spend $2.1 million in ads.]

In Virginia Gillespie not giving up, yet - Washington Examiner: “Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner apparently won re-election Tuesday, barely holding onto his seat in a shockingly close election in the commonwealth. However, Republican challenger Ed Gillespie won’t concede the race, as the returns show the two candidates just a half percentage point apart. Warner, the former Virginia governor, declared victory over the former chairman of the Republican National Committee Tuesday. With more than 2 million votes cast in Virginia, Warner held a roughly 12,000-vote lead over Gillespie…It is not clear whether Gillespie will seek a recount.”

Early playbill - NYT: “G.O.P. TAKES CONTROL OF SENATE” //WSJ:” GOP to Control Congress for First Time in Eight Years”//WaPo: “A REPUBLICAN WAVE”//USA Today: “Republicans take Senate majority.”//Boston Globe: “Republicans secure control of US Senate”//NY Daily News: “GRAND OLD MAJORITY”// Houston Chronicle : “GOP takeover: Republicans surge to Senate control”//Wichita [Kan.] Eagle: “Republicans seize Senate, set up clash with Obama”

[Dems blame Obama - The Hill: “As the dust settled Tuesday night, top Democratic aides and strategists vented frustration with an administration they say could have done more to help the party out. ‘It was President Obama dragging candidates down across the country,’ one Senate Democratic aide said. ‘It was a tough map to start with and his numbers were especially bad in these states, making it that much harder to overcome.’ They lamented that the president repeatedly nationalized the election, even though he knew that he was unpopular in many of 2014 battleground states...”]

CLINTONS POST SAD SCORE CARD
Politico: “In the final weeks of the campaign, nearly every endangered Democrat brought [Bill and Hillary Clinton] along on the stump – from Kay Hagan in North Carolina to Mary Landrieu in Louisiana, Mark Udall in Colorado to Mark Pryor in Arkansas. But it was an overwhelming wipeout — of the Clinton-backed candidates in the closest Senate races, only [Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.] hung on.

[Democratic Senate Contests]
—Bruce Braley (Iowa): Loss
—Sen. Dick Durbin (Illinois): Win
—Sen. Al Franken (Minnesota): Win
—Alison Lundergan Grimes (Kentucky): Loss
—Sen. Kay Hagan (North Carolina): Loss
—Sen. Mary Landrieu (Louisiana): Advances to runoff
—Michelle Nunn (Georgia): Loss
—Gary Peters (Michigan): Win
—Sen. Mark Pryor (Arkansas): Loss
—Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire): Win
—Sen. Mark Udall (Colorado): Loss

OBAMA STUMPS DEEPEN DEMS’ SLUMP
The Hill: “A bad night for the White House on Tuesday got worse as a number of Democratic gubernatorial candidates for whom President Obama campaigned in the final weeks of the midterm elections fell to their Republican challengers…The most stinging loss might have been in Obama’s home state of Illinois, where Democratic incumbent Pat Quinn lost to Republican challenger Bruce Rauner…In neighboring Wisconsin…[a]ppearances by the president and first lady were not enough to prevent Gov. Scott Walker — a 2016 Republican presidential hopeful many Democrats hoped to knock off — from winning reelection over Democrat Mary Burke. In Michigan, the president’s work for Democrat Mark Schauer again fell short. The president headlined a rally for the Democrat over the weekend, but Schauer failed to oust Republican Rick Snyder.”

[Update - GOP candidate Larry Hogan defeated Democrat Anthony Brown in Maryland’s gubernatorial contest. Maine’s Republican Gov. Paul LePage bested Democrat Mike Michaud. President Obama campaigned for the Democrats in both states in October.]

WITH YOUR SECOND (OR THIRD) CUP OF COFEE…
On this date in 1935, Parker Brothers began marketing the board game “Monopoly.” The game traces its history back to 1904 when a young woman named Elizabeth Maggie created the “The Land Lord’s Game” with a few friends in Brentwood, Md. For Maggie, the game was an effort to explain the single-tax theory of Henry George. From 1906 through the 1930s several variations of her game were developed that involved the buying, selling and development of land. By 1933, the game took on the now famous 4x10 space-to-aside layout with its famous cards produced. Now, more than 275 million games have been sold worldwide in nearly 43 languages. According to Hasbro, the game was used as a means to smuggle maps and actual money into Prisoner of War Camps inside Germany during World War II. Find more fun facts about one of America’s beloved board games here.

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POLL CHECK
Real Clear Politics Averages
Obama Job Approval: Approve – 41.9 percent//Disapprove – 53.4 percent
Direction of Country: Right Direction – 27.8 percent//Wrong Track – 66 percent
Generic Congressional Ballot: Democrats – 43.2 percent// Republicans – 45.6 percent

IT’S 2016 ALREADY: WHAT MIDTERM TALLY MEANS FOR GOP
WSJ: “Tuesday’s results also carried implications for the Republicans weighing White House bids. In one of the earliest calls of the night, Republican Gov. John Kasich was declared the winner in Ohio. Victory in a presidential bellwether state will increase his stock among Republicans looking ahead to 2016. Also in focus was Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who had been running a tight race against Democrat Mary Burke. The win by Mr. Walker, who was elected in 2010 and fought off a recall vote in 2012, showed stamina that would be hard for possible 2016 Republican rivals to match. In Florida, the nation’s largest swing state with a bounty of 29 electoral votes, a victory by Republican Gov. Rick Scott secured the Republican lock on state government, creating a friendly environment for the next GOP nominee. As chairman of the Republican Governors Association, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie comes away from Tuesday’s election with bragging rights he could brandish in a presidential 2016 campaign. He visited 37 states and helped raise a record $102 million to defend 22 GOP-held governorships.”

[“I don’t think our policies are bad. But I think the perception of who we are and how we project ourselves has to improve for us to win presidential elections.” – Sen. Rand Paul, Ky., on Fox News Tuesday.]

Martinez cruises to victory - Oft-mentioned as a potential GOP 2016 veep prospect, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez handily defeated Democratic challenger Gary King.

THAT MASK IS SO… YOU!
“Trends in gauze” might be the best phrase to describe how the Chinese world of couture is adapting to the country’s notoriously smog-ridden atmosphere. Mashable: “How bad has the pollution in China become? Even high-end fashion designers have begun incorporating oxygen masks into their designs. What might be seen as dramatic flourish on some runways has become a stylish though nonetheless troubling reminder that Beijing’s air pollution has become accepted by many as a normal part of daily life in the country. Presented by designer QIAODAN Yin Peng during Mercedes-Benz China Fashion Week, which ended on Sunday, the sports wear line accents its already futuristic looks with a wide array of breathing masks that match the clothing.” Check out the photo gallery on this one.

AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“This is much less the doing of the Republicans than self-destruction of the Democrats. I think [President Obama] carries too much weight. It wasn’t the party…the Democrats came in on the coattails of this great leader swept into office. Now, on their own, without coattails, all of that, a lot of them are gone…This is the end of the era for Democrats. The playing field, I think is now level.” – Charles Krauthammer on Fox News Tuesday.

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