Takeaways from Election 2012

Some takeaways from last night's national results are that the GOP needs to evolve in what they stand for.  It's clear that they have to stop focusing on abortion rights and other social issues.  Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock lost because of their views on social issues.  In doing so, the Democrats were able to pick up a Senate seat in Indiana.

Politico:

In 2004, George W. Bush won 44 percent of Hispanics. Four years later, John McCain, the author of an immigration reform bill, took 31 percent of Hispanics. And this year, Romney captured only 27 percent of Hispanics.[...]

But the GOP’s problem is more fundamental than one bloc of voters. For the second consecutive presidential election, the Republican got thumped among women and young voters in the states that decided the election.

If you're a Republican, that's a very depressing stat to read.  Just looking at the exit polling data from yesterday's election, it's astonishing.

Still though, it's as if liberal (moderate) Republicans no longer have a home in the Republican Party.  The political center is longer where it once was due to the fact that the far right of the GOP has taken control.

Mitch McConnell congratulated the president on re-election and will have to work with him.  He doesn't have a choice.  He is very vulnerable for 2014 and is likely to see strong opposition in Kentucky, whether it is Ben Chandler, Alison Lundergan Grimes, or even Ashley Judd.

The Kentucky Democratic Party also has to learn from last night.  Candidates have to run like REAL Democrats, not Republican-lite.  The party needs to take control of the State Senate in 2014.