Joshua Spivak: “While the multi-billion dollar presidential campaign sucked up most of the nation’s attention this year, in scores of smaller elections across the country, voters took unprecedented action to force political changes of their own. In 2012, at least 168 elected officials faced recall votes. That appears to be an all-time record.”

“Of course, more recalls were attempted than actually made the ballot. On
at least 508 occasions, citizens took out recall petitions in 2012.
Most of them failed. Recalls against the governors of Michigan, Arizona,
and Louisiana went nowhere, and the attempts to recall the mayors of
Washington, D.C., Denver, Oakland, and Nashville all failed to get on
the ballot. What’s the difference between success and failure? Often,
money.”

Rep.-elect Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) “is looking to make the jump to the U.S. Senate before even taking a seat in the House,” the Honolulu Civil Beat reports.

Gabbard, who was just elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November, announced she wants to fill late Sen. Daniel Inouye’s (D-HI) seat.

After giving it serious consideration, Ted Kennedy Jr. has decided not to run for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, the Boston Globe reports.

He gave three reasons: “He does not want to uproot his family; he doesn’t feel right about moving from Connecticut to Massachusetts to run; and officials in Connecticut have urged him to stay there and run there eventually.”

The day Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) died, he sent a note to Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D) asking him to appoint Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-HI) to his seat, Honolulu Civil Beat reports.

Inouye wrote. “I hope you will grant me my last wish.”

“While this immediately shot Hanabusa to the top of the succession list, it also put Abercrombie in a tough spot. How could the governor not grant the dying wish of Hawaii’s most revered statesman? And if he doesn’t, what would be the political consequences?”

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has urged Abercrombie to decide quickly so Reid has all the votes he can get on any “fiscal cliff” legislation.

Many wondered why it took Mitt Romney so long to concede on Election Night and now the Boston Globe has details:

“Arriving at his suite in the Westin Boston Waterfront ­hotel, Romney received regular updates from his staff. He made small talk about the Patriots and the Celtics and played with his grandchildren. He was about to concede around 11:15 p.m when Republican strategist Karl Rove made his now-infamous appearance on Fox News Channel, insisting that his own network was wrong in calling Ohio for the president.”

“The concession call was canceled, followed by an hour of uncertainty. Then, after Fox ­executives dismissed Rove’s concerns and stood by the network’s projection, Romney said: Call the president.”