Linda McMahon (R), who spent nearly $100 million of her own money on two failed U.S. Senate bids from Connecticut, tells Businessweek when she learned she had lost.

Said McMahon: “I was sitting by myself, actually. I had just taken a moment to go upstairs and get my thoughts together on what I was still hoping would be a victory speech. I was just sitting there, going over my speech clearly you have a concession speech as well, but you’re hoping that’s not the one you use. I wasn’t paying that much attention to the TV. This was about 40 minutes after the polls closed. Then I looked up and saw a checkmark next to Chris Murphy’s name on ABC. I barely caught it out of the corner of my eye. I just thought, ‘Wow.’ I was stunned for a moment. I sat there for a few minutes on my own, reflecting on what the race had been.”

The New York Times reports that just a few hours after conceding to President Obama, Mitt Romney told his staff members that they had just witnessed his last political campaign. But he vowed, “I will not fall off the map.”

Some “predict he will write a book, convinced that the daily diary he kept on the campaign trail would make for a compelling read.”

Others “speculate that he will return to the corridors of finance” or that he’ll “take on a major role in the Mormon Church, picking up where he left off two decades ago.”

Karl Rove tried to shift blame for his failed spending spree to defeat President Obama, claiming Obama won reelection by “suppressing the vote,” the New York Daily News reports.

Rove insisted that Obama won because he “succeeded in suppressing the vote” with negative ads “that turned off” voters, keeping them from the polls.

Rick Hasen: “It is worth pointing out… that Rove’s groups ran more negative ads than the Obama campaign, and so would be just as guilty of this kind of ‘suppression.'”

The Week: “Washington and Wall Street are freaking out about a looming one-two punch of tax hikes and spending cuts.”

Meanwhile, Wonk Wire notes the CBO jumped into the “fiscal cliff” debate with a statement which is expected to fuel President Obama’s demand for higher taxes on the rich.

Pew Research finds that Mitt Romney won 78% of the Mormon vote in the 2102 presidential election.

In 2004, George W. Bush was backed by 80% of Mormons.

Actress Ashley Judd, said to be mulling a campaign against Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), refused to rule out a run against him in 2014 in a one-sentence statement to Louisville Courier-Journal.

If she decides to run, Judd, who lives in Tennessee, would have to establish residency in Kentucky.

The Week: “The Tea Party had a terrible night on Tuesday. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the party is over.”

The Wall Street Journal notes that Cuban-born voters living in Florida voted for Mitt Romney, 55% to 45%.

However, American-born Cubans voted overwhelmingly for President Obama, 60% to 40%.

President Obama — in a rare authentic campaign moment — gets emotional addressing staffers at his Chicago headquarters.

[Read more…]

Charles Darwin, the 19th-century naturalist who laid the foundations for evolutionary theory, received close to 4,000 write-in votes against Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA), the Athens Banner-Herald reports.

A campaign asking voters to write-in Darwin’s name in Georgia’s 10th congressional district began after Broun called evolution and other areas of science “lies straight from the pit of hell.”

Tom Holbrook: “As I pointed out at the end of August, I see political and economic context of the election as favoring Mitt Romney, though not overwhelmingly so. In fact, I think that Romney’s gains after the first debate partly reflected a dissatisfied electorate responding to a campaign event that pushed them in the ‘right’ direction. But one thing I find interesting is that despite a reversal of fortunes in the last few weeks, there seems to be a clear floor below which Obama’s support will not fall, and Mitt Romney has not been able to do any better than draw even or periodically take a very narrow lead.”

“One thing that may be benefiting Obama could have little to do with the standard indicators of national conditions and may have even less to do with either of the candidates or their campaigns. Simply put, I think a case can be made that the Republican brand name is acting as a drag on Mitt Romney’s candidacy.”

Here are the latest polls from the battleground states:

Colorado: Obama 50%, Romney 47% (We Ask America)

Colorado: Romney 46%, Obama 45% (Reuters/Ipsos)

Ohio: Obama 50%, Romney 45% (Quinnipiac)

Ohio: Obama 50%, Romney 45% (Public Policy Polling)

Ohio: Obama 48%, Romney 46% (University of Cincinnati)

Ohio: Obama 48%, Romney 45% (Reuters/Ipsos)

Florida: Obama 48%, Romney 47% (Quinnipiac)

Florida: Romney 50%, Obama 47% (Gravis)

Florida: Romney 50%, Obama 49% (We Ask America)

Florida: Obama 47%, Romney 47% (Reuters/Ipsos)

Iowa: Obama 50%, Romney 45% (Public Policy Polling)

Iowa: Romney 45%, Obama 44% (University of Iowa)

Iowa: Obama 49%, Romney 47% (We Ask America)

Michigan: Obama 48%, Romney 45% (Detroit News)

Michigan: Obama 48%, Romney 42% (EPIC-MRA)

North Carolina: Obama 49%, Romney 49% (Public Policy Polling)

Pennsylvania: Obama 48%, Romney 44% (Franklin and Marshall)

Virginia: Obama 49%, Romney 47% (Quinnipiac)

Virginia: Romney 49%, Obama 44% (Roanoke)

Virginia: Obama 48%, Romney 46% (Reuters/Ipsos)

Wisconsin: Obama 51%, Romney 46% (Public Policy Polling)

Wisconsin: Obama 51%, Romney 43% (Marquette Law)

A new WPRI poll in Rhode Island finds Gov. Lincoln Chafee (I) faces a decidedly uphill battle if he opts to run for a second term in two years.

Key findings: Just 18% would vote to re-elect Chafee if the election were being held today, 33% would consider another candidate and 42% would vote to replace him. The other 8% of voters aren’t sure.