Walmart Black Friday Protests Hit Major Cities With Calls For '$15 And Full Time'

WASHINGTON -- Dirk Rasmussen had Friday off and could have slept in if he wanted to. Instead, the Maryland resident and Teamster rose early and drove to downtown Washington, eager to join a post-Thanksgiving protest against Walmart.

"Our local [union] president encouraged us to take part," said Rasmussen, 58, who works in a lumber and building-supply warehouse. "I raised eight children on a Teamsters benefit package and Teamsters wage. I'm a firm believer in collective bargaining, and I'm very concerned about the security of this next generation."

Black Friday may be most famous for doorbuster shopping deals, but among progressives it's becoming a regular holiday for labor demonstrations. Friday marked the third consecutive year of scattered but highly visible protests against Walmart. Demonstrators, along with an unknown number of Walmart strikers, are calling for better pay and scheduling practices from the world's largest retailer.

On Thursday and Friday, photos on Twitter tagged with #walmartstrikers showed sizable protests in D.C., Pittsburgh, Northern New Jersey, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Calif., and St. Paul, Minn., among other areas. The protests were led by OUR Walmart, a union-backed worker group, alongside community and labor groups in different cities.

100+ stand in solidarity w #WalmartStrikers on thanksgiving in DC pic.twitter.com/Spqc8rsooQ

-- DC Jobs With Justice (@DCJWJ) November 28, 2014

Dan Schlademan, campaign director of Making Change at Walmart, a project of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, said on a call with reporters Friday that he expects the number of strikers to be in the hundreds by the end of the day, though the group could not provide a specific number of workers who'd submitted strike notices to their bosses.

"All the signs that we're seeing is that this is going to be the biggest day ever," Schlademan said.

Brooke Buchanan, a spokeswoman for Walmart, told HuffPost that the retailer was more concerned with serving its customers than with protests it views as union stunts. According to Buchanan, more than 22 million shoppers came to Walmart stores on Thanksgiving alone this year.

"We're really focused on our customers," Buchanan said. "We've got millions of customers coming in [on Thanksgiving] and Friday, and we're making sure they have a safe and exciting shopping experience."

In D.C., a crowd estimated at 200 to 400 people assembled outside the Walmart store on H Street Northwest, calling on the retailer to commit to "$15 and full time" -- a wage of $15 per hour, the same rate demanded by fast-food strikers, and a full-time schedule for those who want it. One of OUR Walmart's top criticisms of the retailer is that part-time workers don't get enough hours.

The protest was large enough to draw the D.C. police, who stood at the store's doors and dispersed the crowd after about an hour.

Melinda Gaino, an employee at the store, said she would be missing three shifts this week while on strike. Gaino took part in a sit-down strike on Wednesday inside the H Street store, where she and other protesters sat on the floor with tape over their mouths, calling on Walmart to end what they called the silencing of workers.

Gaino, a 45-year-old mother of four, said she joined OUR Walmart in August out of concern with some of the challenges faced by her colleagues. Many workers, she said, don't get enough hours to support their families.

"This has given me more confidence," Gaino, who earns $9.90 per hour, said of going on strike. "I said I've come this far, so I may as well go all in."

Correction: This item originally misstated the number of Walmart shoppers on Thanksgiving.

Nice of @walmart to set up a lovely tableau for #WalmartStrikers! Roll back? Fight back! #BlackFridayWOA pic.twitter.com/XR0y85co5o

-- Jess Banks (@ProfBanks) November 28, 2014

Solving The Tech Worker 'Shortage' Is Easy: Just Pay Them More

American tech CEOs love to complain that they can't find enough skilled workers, and they want the U.S. government to change its immigration policies to fix the problem. But it's a problem that doesn’t exist.

The real problem is not that there aren’t enough qualified workers to do tech jobs, but that tech companies simply don’t want to pay people enough money to do them, Bloomberg Businessweek’s Josh Eidelson pointed out on Monday, citing academic research.

Specifically, Eidelson quoted Rutgers professor of public policy Hal Salzman saying that tech companies looking for new hires “may not be able to find them at the price they want. But I’m not sure that qualifies as a shortage, any more than my not being able to find a half-priced TV.”

Salzman’s research found that 50 percent of computer-science college students don’t enter the tech industry after graduation. Thirty-two percent of the students Salzman surveyed said there weren't enough tech jobs available -- countering any idea of a worker shortage. Fifty-three percent of students said they “found better job opportunities outside of IT occupations." That suggests the relative pay of tech is the real problem.

Tech companies do pay well compared to the median U.S. income of $53,000. A few years ago, Business Insider reported that starting median salaries at big companies ranged from $55,000 to $87,000. But these companies are not competing to employ the median U.S. worker; by their own admission, they want highly skilled workers. Those 53 percent of tech grads who found better offers elsewhere suggest that tech companies pay less than some companies they are competing against for talent.

Add to this Salzman's finding that inflation-adjusted tech pay hasn't risen since 1999, and you don't get a picture of an industry that is, overall, offering best-in-class pay.

Even if there were in fact a shortage of tech workers, tech CEOs could fix it by simply paying workers more. It’s the same solution The New York Times’ Neil Irwin called for when the trucking industry bemoaned a lack of truckers: Pay them more, and they will come.

Instead of taking a free-market approach to attracting workers -– raising pay to increase the supply of workers -– the tech industry has focused on lobbying politicians to increase the number of temporary H1-B visas for high-skilled workers, to let a greater number of workers enter the country. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg created an entire organization, called FWD, to push for immigration reform that included more H1-B visas.

It's no accident that these H1-B workers are cheaper. According to the Economic Policy Institute, 80 percent of H1-B visa workers make less than Americans in similar jobs.

In arguing to bring in more of these workers, tech CEOs claim their industry is unique. Tech workers are nothing like truckers, they would say. Tech jobs are specialized and talent-based, with top performers that are vastly more productive than other employees.

But the same can be said of many white-collar occupations. Technology companies are not unicorns. Other industries deal with the same issues tech companies are constantly decrying, including global competition for talent and a sub-standard U.S. education system, and seem to do just fine.

For instance, look at finance. Wages are high enough that there are plenty of people willing to do complicated, skilled work for more than 80 hours a week.

As a result, no one ever talks about a banker shortage. Quite the opposite: There are semi-regular columns imploring young and impressionable college graduates to ignore the allure of high pay in the financial sector -- and instead try working in tech, maybe. And some of those grads do. But you will never hear a bank or hedge fund complain that they just can’t hire enough people.

FWD, the group founded by Zuckerberg, did not respond to a request for comment. Nor did representatives from Apple, Google and Facebook.

Obamacare Sign-Ups Near 500,000 After First Week

More than 460,000 people enrolled in a private health insurance plan on the federally run Obamacare exchanges in 37 states during the first week of the sign-up period for 2015 coverage, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Wednesday.

These enrollments are almost evenly split between renewals of existing customers and new sign-ups, according to a report issued by the department. More than 1 million people have submitted applications for financial assistance and coverage and almost 1.6 million have reviewed prices for insurance using HealthCare.gov's window-shopping feature between Nov. 15, the opening day of the three-month health insurance exchange enrollment period, and Nov. 21, the department disclosed.

President Barack Obama's administration aims to sign up more than 9 million people for private health insurance via these exchange marketplaces by the close of the enrollment period on Feb. 15, including renewing most of the approximately 7 million people who already have insurance policies obtained through the federally operated exchanges and those run by 13 states and the District of Columbia.

"We had a solid start, but we have a lot of work to do every day between now and February 15," Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Matthews Burwell said in a press release.

Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services was forced to acknowledge it overcounted Obamacare health insurance enrollments for this year by hundreds of thousands by including people who purchased dental plans, after a report by Bloomberg News revealed the error, which was uncovered by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

During a conference call Wednesday with reporters, Burwell pledged greater transparency about the Obamacare exchanges. The Department of Health and Human Services will issue weekly and monthly reports on health insurance exchange enrollment, Burwell said.

The number of enrollees during the first week of the current sign-up push is more than four times the number who selected health insurance plans during all of October 2013, when the exchanges launched amid crippling technical problems.

States including Kentucky, Maryland and California that have their own exchanges also have reported strong enrollments so far.

Half a million enrollees in a week puts federal Obamacare officials on pace to sign up close to 1.8 million people during the first month, but the system remains far from the 9.1 million target for 2015 enrollees, which Burwell established earlier this month. The administration is standing by that aspiration, however, she said.

"We are staying with that number," Burwell said. "We have a lot of work before us, and we're going to continue focusing on that."

As of last month, nearly 7 million people had health insurance policies purchased through an exchange. The federal marketplaces and most state-run exchanges will automatically renew customers into their same plans for next year if they don't choose a different one. But with health insurance premium increases and decreases varying widely across the nation -- especially for the least costly and most popular policies on the market in 2014 -- consumers who fail to shop around could wind up paying much more by standing pat instead of seeking more affordable plans for next year.

"We are strongly urging and encouraging everyone to come back, make sure your information is the most up-to-date," Burwell said. "For many, many people it is very important to come back and shop."

The deadline to choose a health insurance plan that will be in place on Jan. 1 is Dec. 15. Current enrollees who automatically are renewed into their policies can still switch to a new one for the rest of next year after that date, up to the final deadline for 2015 coverage on Feb. 15.

This post has been updated with details from a conference call Burwell had with reporters.

A Landmark Retail Workers 'Bill of Rights' Passes Unanimously In San Francisco

Amid growing concern over erratic work schedules, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday passed a first-of-its-kind law aimed at securing more stable hours for retail workers.

Dubbed "the retail workers bill of rights," the law, which passed the 11-member, all-Democratic board unanimously, requires the city's large chain retailers to post workers' schedules at least two weeks ahead of time. Workers will be owed supplemental pay if unexpected changes are made to their schedules, or if they're required to be "on call" and their shifts are suddenly canceled.

The law, championed by Supervisor David Chiu, also requires that the employers offer any extra hours they have to their current workforces, rather than bringing on more part-time or temporary workers.

Passed as a set of two bills -- the first sailed through last week, the second on Tuesday -- the law marks a significant victory for labor groups and other advocates for retail and low-wage workers.

At a time when minimum wage and sick leave proposals are proving extremely popular, backers of the San Francisco legislation hope similar measures will now pop up in other cities and perhaps even states. California and its cities often find themselves on the leading edge of progressive labor policies.

Ann O'Leary, head of the children and families program at Next Generation, a San Francisco nonprofit that pushed for the legislation, said the law was fashioned partly in response to retailers' use of on-call and just-in-time scheduling. Modern scheduling technology may help retailers cut costs and become more efficient, but it also makes workers' hours less reliable, she said.

"It's not the manager thinking about people's needs -- it's a computer looking at the data," O'Leary said. "In San Francisco there's a higher minimum wage, but some weeks you're getting 10 hours and others you're getting 25. It's very hard to figure out what you're doing in terms of family income."

O'Leary also said the legislation was meant to address recent economic trends. With the high unemployment rates of the recession and recovery, many more workers than usual found themselves underemployed, working part-time but wanting more hours. The number of these so-called "involuntary part-time" workers has gradually dropped as the economy has rebounded, but it's still far from from its pre-recession levels.

Although popular among city supervisors, the San Francisco measures were opposed by the city's chamber of commerce. As Politico reported, the lobby sent a letter to the board last week criticizing the crafting of the law as opaque.

"These ordinances were drafted in large part behind closed doors, with last minute changes that brought numerous other employers within the scope of the ordinances, without notice or outreach," the letter stated.

Backers of the legislation tried to make it more palatable to the San Francisco business community by carving out smaller employers. The law only applies to what city law considers "formula retail" companies, which are retail and food chains with 11 or more locations nationally. So while companies like Target and McDonald's will have to follow the law, the local corner store and mom-and-pop boutique will get a pass.

Despite the chamber's concerns, O'Leary said advocates didn't encounter much opposition to the proposal, probably because of how it was limited to larger companies.

"Since we moved from something that would cover the entire workforce to more formula retail chains, we haven't seen big resistance from the employer community," she said.

The coalition of groups supporting the law was hoping to raise standards in general at large chains, according to Michelle Lim, an organizer with the San Francisco office of Jobs with Justice, a non-union labor group focused on low-wage industries. Groups like Lim's have been instrumental in winning labor-friendly measures like San Francisco's through city councils as well as the ballot box.

"What a retail worker bill of rights could do is really lift the floor not just for retail workers but for chain businesses," said Lim. "It's also creating lot of opportunities for organizing."

The San Francisco bill already has a federal companion of sorts in Congress: the Schedules that Work Act. The legislation would require businesses to compensate workers who show up for their scheduled shift but are turned away, as well as workers whose schedules are changed without at least 24 hours' notice. Sponsored by House Democrats, the bill has virtually no chance of passing the GOP-controlled House or the soon-to-be-GOP-controlled Senate.

With Congressional Republicans opposing a minimum wage hike and other legislation aimed at low-wage work, labor unions and their progressive allies have found much more success on the local level. Despite the drubbing that Democrats took in the midterm elections earlier this month, binding ballot initiatives on the minimum wage passed easily in four red states. A measure that will require many employers to provide their workers with paid sick days also passed in Massachusetts.

Polling shows that voters are highly sympathetic to minimum wage raises and sick-leave mandates. O'Leary said she suspects scheduling rights for retail workers will prove popular as well, even in cities that aren't as famously liberal as her own.

"There are a lot of eyes on San Francisco now," she said. "People are wondering if we can bring this citywide, and then to the state level, and then around the country."

You're More Likely To Inherit Your Dad's Social Status Than His Height

Social mobility is a myth.

That is the depressing conclusion -- or, if you're already part of the social elite, the great news -- of a new study by economists Gregory Clark of the University of California, Davis, and Neil Cummins of the London School of Economics. The hope that we can claw our way up from our low station to someplace fancier is a delusion for most of us, according to this study. We inherit social status from our parents just as much as, if not more than, our physical traits.

And this social status often persists across many, many generations. The title of the study -- "Surnames and Social Mobility in England, 1170–2012" -- gives you some idea of just how many generations we're talking about here: 28 generations of 30 years each. The study looked at centuries of data on the social statuses of English families. It found that many of the families who were socially elite landowners in 1170 -- your Montgomerys, Nevilles, and Percys -- were still socially elite in 2012.

"Strong forces of familial culture, social connections, and genetics must connect the generations," the authors wrote. "There really are quasi-physical 'Laws of Inheritance.'"

The study used attendance at Oxford and Cambridge Universities ("Oxbridge") as a proxy for high social status; typically only elite students go to those schools. Across generations, the "correlation coefficient" -- a number that shows the strength of the correlation between two things, with a 0 meaning not correlated at all and 1 meaning perfect positive correlation -- was between 0.7 and 0.9 for generations of the same family going to Oxbridge. In comparison, the correlation coefficient for height between generations is just 0.64, according to one study cited by the researchers.

Hang on, you might be saying, isn't England notorious for low social mobility? Isn't it the land of Downton Abbey-style snooty inherited wealth? Sure. But guess what? The United States is really not much better. A 2013 study by Miles Corak of the University of Ottawa found that the U.K. and U.S. were two of the least socially mobile countries in the developed world. Here's a chart that puts this in perspective:

Note that, according to Corak's study, low levels of social mobility -- meaning it's hard to move from one social level to a higher one -- are also associated with high levels of income inequality.

This is the kind of world that French economist Thomas Piketty warns could become increasingly common -- one in which inherited wealth just keeps growing while incomes stagnate. It's the sort of the world we're living in today, come to think of it.

Most worryingly, the Clark-Cummins study found that social mobility hasn't really improved significantly in recent decades, despite social programs aimed at boosting it, such as higher tax rates on wealth and programs to help lower-class students get into Oxbridge.

Maybe we just haven't given such programs enough time to work, though. And given the many economic risks created by widening inequality, we shouldn't stop trying to boost social mobility.

How FDR Commercialized Thanksgiving

For those who deride America's biggest retail companies for ruining Thanksgiving by offering Black Friday "doorbusters" smack dab in the middle of the holiday, that's hardly the worst of it.

Many decades ago retailers actually managed to convince the president to change the date of the holiday in order to get people to shop more.

In 1939 during the Great Depression, then President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving Day a week earlier to give Americans an extra week to do their Christmas shopping.

That year, Thanksgiving would have fallen on November 30, the last day of the month. That meant there were fewer days than usual between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Fearing that the shortened holiday shopping season might further crimp the economy, FDR simply moved the date.

At the time, the president said that retailers had pushed him to move Thanksgiving because the holiday fell too close to Christmas. He justified his decision by acknowledging "there was nothing sacred about the date," according to an Associated Press story that appeared on the front page of the New York Times on August 15, 1939.

FDR moved Thanksgiving in 1939.

There was, of course, much opposition. According to the AP story, the town of Plymouth, Mass., where the first Thanksgiving holiday was celebrated, was staunchly opposed. The move also "provided a headache... for football schedule makers," who had already scheduled games to be played on the day they thought would be Thanksgiving. Sixteen states refused to accept the president's proclamation, and kept Thanksgiving on its normal day. Overall 59 percent of Americans objected to it, according to a Gallup poll.

The change was so unpopular FDR reversed his plan less than two years later, admitting that his Thanksgiving experiment didn't do much to help the retail industry.

In 1942, Thanksgiving went back to being on the last Thursday of November, as President Abraham Lincoln had originally intended in 1863.

"Some people never forgave him,” Geoffrey C. Ward, author of "The Roosevelts," told The Huffington Post.

FDR announced in 1941 that he was moving Thanksgiving back to its original date.

Though today, there's no talk of moving Thanksgiving earlier in the month to satisfy corporate America, the effort to make the holiday shopping season longer is still alive and well.

Last year, Thanksgiving once again fell late in the month, a "glitch" that retailers worried would cost them billions. In response, many stores opened for the first time on Thanksgiving Day and holiday spending actually increased over the previous year.

So in a way, Roosevelt was right. Even though his experiment didn't totally pan out, it was only a matter of time before retailers got their stranglehold on Thanksgiving once again.

Doritos-Flavored Mountain Dew Is Real, PepsiCo Confirms

PepsiCo Inc. is concocting a version of its Mountain Dew soda flavored to taste like cheesy Doritos chips, the company stated Friday.

The soda and snack giant said it tested the new flavor, dubbed “Dewitos,” on college students. The company did not reveal which colleges participated in the test, but at least one Reddit user, who goes by the username joes_nipples, posted a photo of the taste test on Friday, saying the soda did, in fact, taste like Doritos.

“We are always testing out new flavors of Mountain Dew, and giving our fans a voice in helping decide on the next new product has always been important to us,” a spokeswoman for PepsiCo said in a statement to The Huffington Post. “We opened up the DEW flavor vault and gave students a chance to try this Doritos-inspired flavor as part of a small program at colleges and universities.”

This isn't the first time PepsiCo has combined the highly caffeinated soda and the cheese-dusted nacho chips. PepsiCo also owns Frito-Lay, which makes Doritos, and the company has a long history of linking the two brands through new flavors or joint promotions. In 2008, PepsiCo released Doritos Quest, a sweet chip with a mystery flavor that was later identified as Mountain Dew.

The company has also long promoted Doritos and Mountain Dew, together enshrined in video gaming culture as the ultimate snacking cuisine, in marketing campaigns promoting the release of games on Microsoft’s Xbox.

Earlier this year, PepsiCo began printing special codes on bottles of Mountain Dew and bags of Doritos that can be used to unlock gear and increase experience points in “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare,” which was released this week.

It’s unclear whether the Doritos-flavored soda will ever reach store shelves. But there's evidence to suggest that the Doritos and Mountain Dew combination is popular: In June, YouTube chef Rosanna Pansino introduced the world to Mountain Dew-flavored cupcakes topped with a Doritos crumble. And interest in the two brands, as shown by this Google Trends graph, seems to be on the rise:

This story has been updated.

Minimum Wage Raise Passes In Four GOP States

Voters in four red states approved ballot initiatives to raise their state minimum wages on Tuesday, sending another message to Washington that Americans support a higher wage floor.

Binding minimum wage referendums were on the ballot in Arkansas, Nebraska, Alaska and South Dakota on Tuesday, with polls suggesting ahead of election day that all would pass.

Arkansas voters approved their initiative by a 65-to-35 margin, according to early returns. The measure will increase the minimum wage incrementally to $8.50 per hour by 2017. Nebraska voters, meanwhile, approved their initiative, which will raise the minimum wage to $9 by 2016, by a 62-to-38 margin.

Alaskans voted by a 69-to-31 margin to raise their minimum wage from $7.75 to $9.75 an hour by 2016, and then peg it to an inflation index so that it rises with the cost of living. South Dakota voted 55-45 to raise their minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.50 next year. It will also be indexed thereafter.

The federal minimum wage is just $7.25 per hour and hasn't been raised since 2009, though states have the option of setting their own minimum wages instead. Arkansas and Nebraska will now join 24 other states that are slated to have a higher wage floor than the federal level next year.

Raising the minimum wage is extremely popular among Americans, with 70 percent of respondents to a recent poll saying they back the idea. That support tends to cross party lines, even if Democrats are more enthusiastic about the idea than Republicans.

Supporting minimum wage increases became so fashionable during this midterm election season that even some Republican candidates got behind the ballot initiatives. After discouraging such a raise earlier this year, Dan Sullivan, the Republican challenger to Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska), eventually said that he would vote in favor of the Alaska measure. Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who unseated Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) on Tuesday, slowly came around to say he would do the same for the initiative in Arkansas.

Given the broad public support, progressive and labor groups in recent years have made a point of putting minimum wage referendums on the ballot at the state and city level. By going to the ballot box, minimum wage backers are able to bypass reluctant state legislatures, particularly those led by Republicans, and put the vote to what is often a more sympathetic audience.

Recent polls in Arkansas, Alaska and South Dakota all showed support for the minimum wage ballot measures, even though the legislatures in those states are GOP-controlled. Nebraska, though solidly red, does not formally recognize state lawmakers' party affiliation.

Minimum wage increases have been a bright spot for organized labor recently, as unions -- and the Service Employees International Union in particular -- have spearheaded the campaign to raise wages in fast food and retail. Low-wage worker strikes have gained national attention.

President Barack Obama has cited the fast-food strikes in calling on Congress to hike the federal minimum wage. Democrats in both chambers have proposed raising the wage to $10.10 per hour and tying it to an inflation index. House Republicans, however, haven't brought the measure up for a vote, and Senate Democrats haven't rounded up enough votes to overcome a GOP filibuster.

This story was updated after wage increases passed in Alaska and South Dakota.

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Oldest Newest Share + 11/05/2014 8:27 AM ESTChristie: GOP Wins Show Focus On Leadership

The AP reported Wednesday:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says Republican victories in governor's races across the country show voters want leaders who will "get things done," rather that fighting over ideology.

Christie, chairman of the Republican Governors Association and a possible 2016 candidate for president, said he was gratified by GOP wins in Democratic-leaning states such as Maryland, Massachusetts and Illinois, as well as victories in key swing states like Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio.

Christie said voters "elect and re-elect governors to get things done."

Christie, who campaigned for GOP candidates across the country, said the winners deserve the credit, not him. He said elections are "always about the candidate."

Christie spoke Wednesday on NBC's "Today" show, ABC's "Good Morning America" and Fox News Channel.

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 7:46 AM ESTPresident Obama To Address Midterm Results In Afternoon Press Conference

President Barack Obama will speak to the press Wednesday afternoon to address his party's resounding loss in the 2014 midterm elections, according to White House press secretary Josh Earnest. He is expected to strike a tone of compromise and accountability following a Republican takeover of the U.S. Senate and many of the nation's gubernatorial offices.

Obama tried reached out to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who is widely expected to be the next senate majority leader and who also won re-election Tuesday night, and left a message, CNN reported.

The president's press conference will take place at 2:50 p.m. Eastern time from the East Room of the White House.

Igor Bobic

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 6:57 AM ESTIndictment, Dog Killing, Infidelity Overcome By GOP Candidates

How bad was it for Democrats? Rep. Michael Grimm, a Republican facing a 20-count indictment won in New York and another known for outbursts of rage and killing a beagle, Mike Bost, won a seat in President Barack Obama's home state of Illinois that had been Democratic for 70 years.

Down in Tennessee, Rep. Scott DesJarlais' past infidelities and pushing of abortion on a mistress continued to not matter to voters, who handed him a landslide victory.

There were a couple of bright spots for Democrats, or at least the more moderate crowd. Florida Rep. Steve Southerland lost to Democrat Gwen Graham after holding an all-male fundraiser and joking about Graham in lingerie. And in Louisiana, GOP Rep. Vance McAllister, dubbed the "Kissing Congressman" after he was caught on tape smooching a staffer, finished far back in the field in his contest.

-- Michael McAuliff

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 5:24 AM ESTExpect A Delay In Results

AP not calling these races until the number of outstanding votes can be verified: Va. gov.; Conn. gov.; Colo. gov.; Alaska gov, Senate.

— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) November 5, 2014

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 5:07 AM ESTAlaska Becomes 4th State To Legalize Recreational Marijuana

In yet another major pushback against the war on drugs, Alaska legalized recreational marijuana on Tuesday, joining Oregon and Washington, D.C. -- both of which legalized cannabis only hours before. Alaska becomes the fourth state in the U.S. to legalize retail marijuana, along with Oregon, Colorado and Washington state.

Voters approved Measure 2, which legalizes the possession, use and sale of recreational marijuana. Adults, age 21 and older, may possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana and grow up to six plants (with no more than three being mature) for personal use. The measure also legalizes the manufacture, sale and possession of marijuana paraphernalia, such as devices used for smoking or storing the plant.

“The folks trying to keep marijuana illegal are relying on the same scare tactics today that they have relied on for decades, but voters just aren’t falling for it anymore," Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, said in a statement early Wednesday morning. "The results are particularly encouraging since voter turnout during a midterm election is typically smaller, older, and more conservative. Clearly, support for ending marijuana prohibition spans the political and ideological spectrums."

Read more here.

-- Matt Ferner

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 4:28 AM ESTAh, Politics... Chicago-Style

People are STILL voting on Chicago's north side because of election judge problems @cbschicago #Election2014

— Elizabeth Godvik (@GodvikNewzGirl) November 5, 2014

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 3:40 AM ESTSarah Palin To GOP: You Didn't Build This

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin took to Facebook last night to issue a hearty congratulations -- and warning -- to her GOP brethren:

Thank you, wise voters! Tonight is a big victory for We the People! Credit is due to the victorious candidates. Your message to President Obama is undeniably received, though he'll try to ignore it.

...

The Democrats got mauled today, deservedly so. To prohibit that from happening to the GOP in 2016, it must learn the lesson from the last time Republicans held the Senate majority. This time they must not retreat, and it's our responsibility to hold them accountable. Will they fight for reform that aligns with the limited government planks of the Republican platform, or will they return to the big government cronyism and status quo favored by the permanent political class? Will they drain the swamp or decide the D.C. cesspool is really just a jacuzzi they can't wait to jump on into and shake us off?

If GOP leadership returns to business as usual, then this majority will be short lived, for We the People say, “once bitten, twice shy.”

Click here to read the full statement.

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 2:55 AM ESTAlaska Approves Minimum Wage Increase

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) _ Alaskans have voted to raise the minimum wage.

— Becky Bohrer (@beckybohrerap) November 5, 2014

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 2:39 AM ESTAlaska Rep. Don Young Projected To Win 22nd Term

The Associated Press is projecting that Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) will win re-election as Alaska's only member of Congress.

--Sam Levine

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 2:36 AM ESTVoter Turnout In The U.S. Is Always Awful.. And This Year Was No Different

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 2:36 AM ESTDCCC Chair Tries To Find A Silver Lining

.@DCCC Chair @RepSteveIsrael: "In short, it could have been worse"

— Josh Lederman (@joshledermanAP) November 5, 2014

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 2:21 AM ESTMaine's Fourth-Largest City Legalizes Marijuana Possession

Voters in South Portland, Maine, the state's fourth-largest city, approved a measure that removes all legal penalties for possession of up to one ounce of marijuana by adults.

Public consumption and display remain illegal. Maine's largest city, Portland, legalized recreational marijuana last year.

A similar measure in Lewiston, the second-largest Maine city, failed Tuesday night.

-- Matt Ferner

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 2:17 AM ESTCruz Says He Won't Challenge McConnell

Ted Cruz tells CBS that "under no circumstances" would he challenge McConnell for leader. So there's that.

— Susan Davis (@DaviSusan) November 5, 2014

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 2:15 AM ESTDemocrats Are Not Sugarcoating Tuesday's Election Results

Business Insider's Hunter Walker and Brett Logiurato report:

Democrats knew they were in trouble on election night Tuesday when a Virginia Senate seat that was expected to be a blowout victory began to come in much closer than expected.

"When you're cheering for an eke-out win in Virginia, not going to be a good night," one Democratic strategist told Business Insider.

Read more here.

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 2:09 AM ESTHope And Change? Not This Time

Wednesday's front page, NY Daily News: pic.twitter.com/2mChPO9FuU

— Joel Siegel (@joelmsiegel) November 5, 2014

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 2:08 AM ESTPat Quinn Refuses To Concede Illinois Governor's Race As Rauner Declares Victory

CHICAGO -- Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) addressed supporters late Tuesday night saying he was not ready to concede the election to challenger Bruce Rauner, despite the fact that the Associated Press and others have called the race for the Republican political newcomer.

“There are a lot of votes still to be counted,” Quinn told supporters. “I don’t believe in throwing in the towel when there are that many votes still to be counted.”

As of late Tuesday night, the splash page for the Quinn For Illinois campaign website said, "We're still waiting for the final results to come in. Thanks for your support."

Meanwhile, Rauner declared victory in a speech late Tuesday, promising a "new direction" for Illinois.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting by midnight Tuesday, only Quinn's Chicago base of Cook County tipped in his favor; Rauner won the influential "collar counties" around Chicago and easily carried downstate counties as well.

Cook County, which encompasses Chicago, was the only county that hadn't reported all its results at the time of Quinn's announcement. Election issues rippled throughout Chicago since the polls opened at 6 a.m. on Tuesday.

Election officials alleged "dirty tricks" were afoot after "malicious" robocalls were sent to election judges as early as Friday. Chicago Board of Election Commissioners spokesman Jim Allen told the Sun-Times that the calls -- which reportedly gave election judges false information about voting requirements and eligibility -- prompted more than 2,000 no-shows on Election Day.

"You're interfering with the orderly conduct of a federal election in our opinion," Allen said.

Fire crews had to break down the door of one polling place located inside a restaurant after the owners failed to show up and open. The polling station was just one of several that stayed open beyond the regular poll closing to accommodate the late start.

Additionally, a new policy that allowed voters to simultaneously register and vote at a polling place contributed to the hundreds of voters still waiting in line when the polls closed at 7 p.m.

-- Kim Bellware

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 1:58 AM ESTDemocratic Gubernatorial Candidates Had A Very, Very Bad Night

HuffPost's Samantha Lachman reports:

Republicans had been predicted to take control of the Senate Tuesday evening, but Democrats hoped to do better in gubernatorial races. That hope was more than disappointed, as even Democrats who had been expected to easily win in Democratic-leaning states were defeated.

In deep-blue Maryland, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown conceded to Republican Larry Hogan. In Massachusetts, Attorney General Martha Coakley suffered a crushing loss. And in Maine, deeply unpopular Republican Gov. Paul LePage beat back a challenge from Democratic Rep. Michael Michaud. In all three of those states,

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, didn't even get the requisite 50 percent of the vote needed to win outright in his state.

Read more here.

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 1:35 AM ESTMia Love Projected Winner In Utah Congressional Race

Mia Love wins Utah House race, @AP projects http://t.co/x8zvDVQksC #election2014

— HuffPost Politics (@HuffPostPol) November 5, 2014

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 1:29 AM ESTIn Bed At A Reasonable Hour: Mitch McConnell's Election Night Extravaganza

HuffPost's Eliot Nelson reports:

When the crowd at Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell's election party first learned their candidate had won a sixth term to the U.S. Senate, the reaction was somewhat less than euphoric. A few yelps of excitement erupted here and there, but it seemed as if no one wanted to stand out by making a fuss. It took a few minutes, but the cheers eventually coalesced into something resembling a roar.

It was a decidedly understated bunch. Men in blazers with prep school haircuts had been mingling with demure women sporting bleach-blond helmet hairdos. Many of their children -- themselves seemingly straight out of a Crewcuts catalog -- noshed on complimentary bags of popcorn.

There were flashes of eclecticism, like the two young men toting a sign reading "COME AT ME BRO" featuring a picture of McConnell holding out his arms. Otherwise, the room felt less like a raucous, eardrum-shattering political celebration and more like history's rowdiest Presbyterian church mixer.

Read more here.

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 1:27 AM ESTMartha Coakley Not Ready To Concede In Massachusetts

.@marthacoakley campaign says NO CONCESSION TONIGHT

— Sarah Birnbaum (@sbirn) November 5, 2014

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 1:17 AM ESTRand Paul Taunts Hillary Clinton After GOP Victory

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) wasted no time using the GOP’s new majority in the Senate in the face of potential 2016 presidential rival Hillary Clinton.

Paul posted an entire Facebook album of photos of Clinton campaigning with candidates who lost on Tuesday. Each photo was tagged #HillarysLosers.

On Twitter, Paul continued to attack Clinton, saying that the GOP’s victory on election day was a repudiation of her and President Barack Obama.

Today voters sent a message to Pres. Obama & Hillary Clinton, rejecting their policies & often, their candidates. pic.twitter.com/uQ07JIkwU9

— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) November 5, 2014

You didnt think it could get worse than your book tour? It did. Courtesy of the U.S. voters: https://t.co/kGAZVFq7ze pic.twitter.com/zABFStFM67

— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) November 5, 2014

-- Sam Levine

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 1:16 AM ESTNew Jersey Passes Major Bail Reform

Voters approved Public Question No. 1, a bail reform measure that will reduce the pretrial incarceration of those accused of low-level drug violations. Poorer defendants who can't afford bail, but who are not considered a threat to the community, will now be eligible to be freed while awaiting trial through an alternative release system.

Judges can still deny pretrial release to individuals who pose a clear danger to the community, to repeat offenders and to those who are a probable flight risk.

A recent report from Luminosity and the Drug Policy Alliance found that almost 75 percent of the almost 15,000 individuals in New Jersey's jails are awaiting trial rather than serving out a sentence, and almost half of them remain incarcerated simply because they cannot afford bail. The Drug Policy Alliance backs Public Question No. 1.

-- Matt Ferner

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 1:15 AM ESTElection Results Leave Immigration Advocates Frustrated With Obama

HuffPost's Elise Foley reports:

As of next year, the Senate will be controlled by Republicans, as will the House. The fact that the Senate flipped to Republicans wasn't necessarily surprising to advocates, but it was a frustrating reminder of the president's decision to delay executive action on immigration. That move was meant to protect vulnerable red-state Democrats like Hagan, but most of them either lost anyway or are poised to lose.

In Colorado, executive action could have boosted enthusiasm from Latino voters to the benefit of Udall. Instead, he lost to Republican Cory Gardner, whose immigration stances are far more conservative. The only tangible effect of the delay may have been the deportation of thousands of people who could have been helped by executive action.

Read more here.

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 1:15 AM ESTCould The Shellacking Have Been Avoided?

HuffPost's Sam Stein and Ryan Grim report:

Call it a thumping. Call it a shellacking. However you want to describe the 2014 midterm elections, the point remains the same. Democrats took it on the chin Tuesday night, losing the Senate, getting crushed in winnable governors' races, solidifying their minority status in the House for years to come, and stemming the party's ability to continue putting its stamp on the judiciary.

The question is whether it was all avoidable. Democratic strategists will say that the party was dealt a terrible hand, forced to defend too many vulnerable Democrats in red states against too much money. It was, to be sure, a lousy hand. But Democrats never tried to play it.

Candidates across the country shunned the president, with one famously refusing even to say whether she voted for him; they ran from the party's signature accomplishment, national health care reform; and they panicked when the White House considered doing broad-based immigration reform by executive action. Instead, a robust get out the vote operation was supposed to save the party, which rested its hopes in shifting demographic trends and fear of GOP extremists. But when you don't give your voters much to "get out" for, what's left?

"We gave Dems no reason to run," said an adviser to President Barack Obama. "We ran as Dems-lite."

Read more here.

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 1:13 AM ESTNew Mexico Voters Approve Ending Criminal Penalties For Marijuana Possession

Voters in New Mexico's Bernalillo and Santa Fe counties overwhelmingly approved the decriminalization of marijuana Tuesday. While they are nonbinding, the questions are aimed at gauging support for such a move.

The county questions com after the Santa Fe City Council's decision in August to decriminalize possession of marijuana and marijuana-related paraphernalia. The city's penalty was reduced to a $25 civil infraction.

-- Matt Ferner

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 1:11 AM ESTWinner: Karl Rove

After the 2012 elections didn't quite go the way the GOP wanted it, Republicans responded by impaneling a team of experts to divine what hard lessons needed to be learn, and come up with a long-term strategy to get back on the winning side. That effort yielded the 100-page "Growth And Opportunity Project" report (more colloquially known as the "RNC Autopsy"). Progress on this venture has been decidedly mixed, at best.

Elsewhere, however, key GOP figures were contemplating a short-term solution, focused on the 2014 midterms. Chief among them was former Bush adviser and Fox News contributor Karl Rove. His vision: the Conservative Victory Project. Its goal: No more Todd Akins! Rove attributed key GOP losses to the fact that too many undisciplined candidates were making it through party primaries and into general elections against Democratic candidates that more seasoned, established GOP candidates could beat.

In an interesting coincidence of timing, Rove's project launched around the same time that Iowa's Democratic senator, Tom Harkin, announced he would be retiring. Subsequently, one of the first people to end up in the crosshairs of Rove's new organization was U.S. Rep. Steve King of Iowa. As The New York Times reported at the time:

Representative Steve King, a six-term Iowa Republican, could be among the earliest targets of the Conservative Victory Project. He said he had not decided whether he would run for the Senate, but the leaders of the project in Washington are not waiting to try to steer him away from the race.

The group’s plans, which were outlined for the first time last week in an interview with [American Crossroads president Steven J.] Law, call for hard-edge campaign tactics, including television advertising, against candidates whom party leaders see as unelectable and a drag on the efforts to win the Senate. Mr. Law cited Iowa as an example and said Republicans could no longer be squeamish about intervening in primary fights.

“We’re concerned about Steve King’s Todd Akin problem,” Mr. Law said. “This is an example of candidate discipline and how it would play in a general election. All of the things he’s said are going to be hung around his neck.”

Iowa ended up with Iowa state Sen. Joni Ernst as their standardbearer in that Senate race, and while she's pushed the envelope in the wrong direction at times, she's more or less proved to be a manageable candidate. (Though it arguably helped Ernst that the media, by and large, chose to give her multiple passes.) Over in Colorado, Rove got the sort of candidate he prefers in U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner -- again, a manageable alternative to Ken Buck. Throughout the primary season, Republicans avoided elevating the types of candidates -- your Todd Akins, Sharron Angles, and Richard Mourdocks -- that had previously sunk ambitions.

Tuesday, in the critical Colorado and Iowa races, Gardner and Ernst both prevailed, beating established Democratic candidates thought to have superior ground operations. The GOP may still need to revisit that "RNC autopsy." But in the short term, what Karl Rove wanted to get, he got.

-- Jason Linkins

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 1:08 AM ESTOne Of The Nation's Most Unpopular Governors Wins Re-election

HuffPost's Amanda Terkel reports:

Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) won re-election on Tuesday, despite being one of the most unpopular governors in the country.

LePage won in part for the same reason he did in 2010: A crowded race split Democratic votes, paving the way for his victory.

Read more here.

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 1:07 AM ESTMaine Voters: We Want To Bait Bears

For the second time in 10 years, a ban on bear baiting, trapping and hounding was defeated by Maine voters on Tuesday.

According to the Bangor Daily News, the majority of liberal voters (those residing in the more urban Portland area) were for the ban. The rest of the state? Not so much.

The pro-ban campaign was funded almost entirely by the Humane Society of the United States, which hoped to convince voters that hunting the state's black bears using bait, dogs and traps was cruel and unsporting. The opposition claimed these practices were necessary to control the state's population.

With 54 percent of precincts reporting, the no votes were leading, 53 percent to 47 percent.

Click here for more.

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 1:03 AM ESTRepublican Projected To Win Re-Election In Maine

Maine Gov. Paul LePage wins re-election http://t.co/l7QJfMRt4n #Elections2014

— HuffPost Politics (@HuffPostPol) November 5, 2014

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 12:58 AM ESTGOP Senators Begin Jockeying For Leadership Posts

confirmed: Thune will run for majr. conference chairman, per sources close to him. Expects McConnell and Cornyn to win top 2 posts.

— Robert Costa (@costareports) November 5, 2014

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 12:45 AM ESTBallot Measure To Drug-Test Doctors Fails In California

HuffPost's Lydia O'Connor reports:

Under Prop. 46, physicians could have been tested for drugs at random, within 24 hours of an adverse event suffered by a patient under their care, and when they were accused of possible substance abuse. Had it passed, California would have been the only state requiring random drug tests of doctors, the East Bay Express wrote.

Reform groups criticized that provision as ineffective in decreasing substance abuse, unfairly punitive of doctors and a step backward in ending the war on drugs. In a statement sent to The Huffington Post, the Drug Policy Alliance noted that random drug testing "cannot be used to determine the extent of drug misuse, impairment, frequency or amount of use." Moreover, it said, random drug-testing “often creates incentives to use riskier substances in counterproductive ways.”

Read more here.

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 12:41 AM ESTSenate Now Has Enough Votes To Pass Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Bill

HuffPost's Kate Sheppard reports:

The new Senate Republican majority creates an opportunity for likely Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to force a vote on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline he's been waiting years to hold.

By The Huffington Post's count, the new Senate will have at least 61 votes in favor of a measure forcing the pipeline's approval -- a filibuster-proof majority.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Tuesday in an appearance on MSNBC that passing a Keystone approval bill would be the second item on the Republican agenda, after a budget. "I actually think the president will sign the bill on the Keystone pipeline because I think the pressure -- he’s going to be boxed in on that, and I think it's going to happen," Priebus said.

Read more here.

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 12:28 AM ESTNobody Wants To Run Against Harry Reid For Minority Leader

Politico's Manu Raju reports:

Harry Reid will run for Senate minority leader, and it appears he will have no significant opposition.

Senior Senate Democratic aides said Tuesday night that Reid would have the full support of his entire leadership team, despite his party incurring huge losses on Election Night.

Read more here.

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 12:22 AM ESTAmerica, Meet Your New Republican Bosses

HuffPost's Dana Liebelson reports:

Republican victories in Tuesday's Senate elections push out a Democratic old guard and usher in a new crop of hungry GOPers, some just getting their feet wet in politics.

Republicans won control of the Senate partly with the help of newcomers who ousted Democratic incumbents and whipped rivals for seats vacated by retiring liberal lions, whose political service spanned decades that included some of the biggest moments in modern U.S. political history. These departing senators have chaired powerful committees, authored landmark bills, exposed torture in Vietnam, debated CIA interrogation methods, and voted on the Iraq war.

Politically inexperienced Republicans fought to victory by linking Democratic opponents with President Barack Obama and by emphasizing business or military experience, rather than Washington savvy. A Republican outsider also snagged a seat held by a retiring Republican heavyweight: Businessman David Perdue, who will take the seat of departing Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.).

Read more here.

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 12:20 AM ESTPat Quinn Wants Every Vote Counted In Illinois Gubernatorial Race

Quinn says "They're entitled to make sure that the election authorities in every single county, counts the votes."

— natasha korecki (@natashakorecki) November 5, 2014

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 12:19 AM ESTCalifornia Votes To Imprison Fewer People

HuffPost's Matt Sledge reports:

California approved a major shift against mass incarceration on Tuesday in a vote that could lead to the release of thousands of state prisoners.

Nonviolent felonies like shoplifting and drug possession will be downgraded to misdemeanors under the ballot measure, Proposition 47. As many as 10,000 people could be eligible for early release from state prisons, and it's expected that courts will annually dispense around 40,000 fewer felony convictions.

Read more here.

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 12:15 AM ESTSam Brownback Projected To Win Re-Election In Kansas Gubernatorial Election

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback wins re-election, @AP projects http://t.co/ofVzXwtzru #Election2014

— HuffPost Politics (@HuffPostPol) November 5, 2014

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 12:11 AM EST2016 Dem Contender Will Have To Explain Loss Of Historically Blue State

How does Martin O'Malley explain losing Maryland to the GOP on the 2016 trail?

— Scott Conroy (@RealClearScott) November 5, 2014

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 12:10 AM ESTMartha Coakley Loses Another Election In Massachusetts

Charlie Baker defeats Martha Coakley in Massachusetts governor's race, Fox and ABC project http://t.co/ofVzXwtzru #Election2014

— HuffPost Politics (@HuffPostPol) November 5, 2014

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 12:08 AM ESTDavid Axelrod Says Returns Show A Wave Election

Said on @NBCNews earlier that this was not a wave. But the returns since then say otherwise.

— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) November 5, 2014

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 12:07 AM ESTRepublican Larry Hogan Projected To Win Maryland Gubernatorial Race

BREAKING: GOP Larry Hogan wins election as governor of Maryland. @AP race call at 12:05 a.m. EST. #Election2014 #APracecall

— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) November 5, 2014

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/05/2014 12:04 AM ESTVermont Legislators Will Select Governor

BREAKING: Vermont legislature will pick governor after no candidate wins majority.

— The Associated Press (@AP) November 5, 2014

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/04/2014 11:56 PM ESTKay Hagan Announces Concession

Hagan: I just called Speaker Tillis to congratulate him pic.twitter.com/InaRTrM2dF

— W.J. Lowery (@WesleyLowery) November 5, 2014

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/04/2014 11:56 PM ESTAnti-Abortion Ballot Measure Passes In Tennessee

HuffPost's Laura Bassett reports:

Tennessee voters on Tuesday approved a controversial ballot measure that ensures the state constitution does not protect a woman's right to abortion under any circumstances. Nearly 54 percent of voters approved the measure, with 46 percent opposed, according to Politico.

Amendment 1 overrides the Tennessee Supreme Court's 2000 decision to block a 36-hour mandatory waiting period before abortions. The court had ruled the state constitution protects women's right to privacy, which includes the right to have an abortion.

Read more here.

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/04/2014 11:55 PM ESTMitch McConnell Claims To Admire Collegial Leaders, But Can He Be One?

HuffPost's Howard Fineman reports:

In his Capitol Hill office, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) proudly displays an oil painting of his state’s most famous senator, Henry Clay, “The Great Pacificator” and unifying statesman of 19th century America. But as the 72-year-old McConnell prepares to take over as Senate majority leader, a job he’s spent decades plotting to win, it’s not clear whether he can be -- or wants to be -- another Clay.

McConnell has said recently that the past majority leaders he most admires are two Democrats -- Mike Mansfield of Montana, who moved most of President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society legislation, and George Mitchell of Maine, who was noted for his diplomatic and collegial style.

On Election Day, McConnell staffers referred me to a speech their boss had made in which he vowed to run a more bipartisan and consultative Senate than now exists. He would be Clay, Mansfield and Mitchell all rolled into one.

Many of his critics scoff at the notion.

Read more here.

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/04/2014 11:54 PM ESTAnother Kennedy Enters Politics

NECN reports:

Ted Kennedy Jr. has won his first political race and a seat in the Connecticut state Senate.

Kennedy is the 53-year-old son of the late U.S. senator and a nephew of President John F. Kennedy. He beat Republican Bruce Wilson Jr. on Tuesday for an open seat in a district along Connecticut's shoreline.

Kennedy had been mentioned in 2012 as a possible Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in his family's home state of Massachusetts. But he decided to seek office in Connecticut's 12th District, where he has lived for about 20 years.

Read more here.

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/04/2014 11:53 PM ESTMississippi Now Outlier On Political Progress For Women

Now there's only one state that's never elected a woman to federal office or the governorship: Mississippi. #2014

— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) November 5, 2014

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/04/2014 11:48 PM ESTTed Cruz Won't Commit To Mitch McConnell As Majority Leader

Ted Cruz won’t say whether he’ll support McConnell as Majority Leader

— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) November 5, 2014

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/04/2014 11:48 PM ESTOregon Becomes Third State To Legalize Recreational Marijuana

The reformation of marijuana laws across the nation took another step forward Tuesday when voters in Oregon approved a measure to legalize the drug for recreational use.

Voters passed Measure 91, which legalizes the possession, use and sale of recreational marijuana for adults 21 and over, according to The Oregonian, NORML and a Fox affiliate in the state. Oregon becomes the third state in the nation to end the prohibition on cannabis.

"People are no longer being fooled by the anti-marijuana propaganda that they’ve been hearing their entire lives," said Mason Tvert, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project.

“This is another example of voters standing up and saying, ‘Enough is enough.’ Marijuana prohibition has been a massive failure and voters are ready to move on. This is a particularly impressive victory because voter turnout for midterm elections is typically smaller, older, and more conservative. Clearly, support for ending marijuana prohibition spans all age groups and the ideological spectrum."

Read more here.

-- Matt Ferner

Share this: Tweet Share tumblr Share + 11/04/2014 11:46 PM ESTScott Brown Concedes In New Hampshire Senate Race

Scott Brown concedes http://t.co/p9A9YAaDcb #Election2014

— HuffPost Politics (@HuffPostPol) November 5, 2014

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CVS's Cigarette Ban Appears To Have Boosted Sales

CVS's move to ban cigarette sales earlier this year seems to be paying off.

Revenue jumped 9.7 percent in CVS' latest quarter from the same period a year ago, the company, which has rebranded itself as CVS Health, reported on Tuesday. That was due in part to a nearly 16-percent gain in revenue for CVS's pharmacy services, which rose to $22.5 billion in the quarter from $19.4 billion a year earlier.

The gain in pharmacy-services revenue helped offset a 4.5-percent year-over-year drop in sales in what is known as the "front of the store" -- where things like magazines, candy, greeting cards and toothpaste are sold -- in stores open a year or more. And that drop was due to the end of cigarette sales, CVS said.

This all fits into CVS’s grand strategy to rebrand itself as a more healthful company, said Vishnu Lekraj, an analyst who covers CVS for the investment research firm Morningstar.

CVS's pharmacy services trade, where the 16-percent increase in revenue occurred, is where the company earns big bucks by contracting with large employers and insurance companies to administer prescription-drug coverage. And it can better attract corporate partners with a healthier brand, Lekraj said.

"They can’t market themselves as a health-care servicer when they’re selling one of the most unhealthy products around,” he said.

Front-of-store sales at CVS will keep falling in the near term, but that doesn't really matter, Lekraj said. The money that CVS can earn by grabbing a larger portion of the country's expanding health-care market will likely outweigh the annual $2 billion it loses through cigarette sales, which only made up a small percentage of its revenue in the first place.

Health-care spending in the U.S. is projected to grow by 5.6 percent this year and by another 6 percent a year from 2015-2023, according to predictions by federal auditors. There are millions of people newly insured by the Affordable Care Act. And CVS is also turning itself into a low-budget doctor's office: The company has more than 900 "Minute Clinics" nationwide that offer quick service for things like flu shots or blood-pressure tests, luring in customers who may not want to wait (or travel) to see a doctor.

Why Some People Pay More Than Others When Shopping Online

You may pay more than your friends when shopping online based on your web browsing history or what kind of smartphone you own, according to a new study analyzing price discrimination on e-​​commerce sites.

In April and May of this year, researchers at North­eastern Uni­ver­sity in Boston studied the search results of 300 people who visited 16 online retailers and travel agencies. On nine of those sites, they found that customers were shown different prices or different results for the same searches.

The researchers said such differences -- which they called "price discrimination" or "price steering" -- are based on data collected about consumers and can be hard for online shoppers to detect.

“As a user, it’s almost impossible to know whether the prices you are being shown have been altered, or if cheaper products have been hidden from search results,” one of the researchers, Christo Wilson, wrote in an op-ed this week in the Washington Post.

For example, the study said that online travel company Expedia displays pricier hotels to some users based on the browsing history stored on their computers, which are called "cookies," though researchers could not determine what sort of browsing activity triggered the higher prices.

An Expedia spokesman declined to comment on the study's findings.

In about 5 percent of search results, Travelocity, another online travel agency, displayed hotel rooms that were $15 a night cheaper if the customer viewed the site on an iPhone or iPad, the study found.

Travelocity did not return a request for comment. But the company has long offered “mobile exclusive” deals for people making reservations on smartphones or tablets.

Home Depot's website displayed search results for smartphone users that contained pricier goods than for consumers using desktops, suggesting the retailer is "effectively steering users on mobile devices towards more expensive products," the researchers said.

Home Depot spokesman Stephen Holmes disputed the study's findings, calling them "misleading."

"The fact is that we never steer customers to more expensive products based on the device they use to search, and we never adjust pricing based on their device," Holmes said in an email to HuffPost.

The study is the latest attempt to shed light on the opaque methods that many e-commerce sites use to show consumers different online deals. The strategy is based on data collected about shoppers and is often a way to boost sales.

In 2012, the Wall Street Journal found that Staples was displaying different prices to people based on their locations and Orbitz had shown different hotel offers to Mac and PC visitors after learning that Mac users spent more on hotels. Orbitz told the Northeastern researchers it discontinued the practice, which it called an "experiment."

The Northeastern researchers said it was difficult to offer advice on how to obtain the lowest prices online because each site uses different methods for displaying search results and they can change over time.

But they suggested the best way to avoid price discrimination is for online shoppers to search for products in three ways: on a desktop browser, using a private “incognito” browser and on a mobile device.

Here Are All The Openly Gay CEOs In The Fortune 500

Actually, Tim Cook is the only openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

"I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me," the Apple CEO wrote in an essay published in Businessweek Thursday.

Before Cook came out, there were no openly gay CEOs in the Fortune 500, according to Deena Fidas of the Human Rights Campaign.

Glen Senk, the former CEO of Urban Outfitters Inc. has said he was the first openly gay CEO of the Fortune 1000 company, but he resigned from the company in 2012. The former CEO of BP, John Browne, resigned in 2007 after being called out as gay.