A quick recap of what we learned in this year's elections:

* Swing states matter. A lot. Especially when most of them go to one candidate.
* After complaining for years that Washington is stuck in political gridlock by having a Democratic president, a Republican House and a Democratic Senate, we solve the problem by electing a Democratic president, a Republican House and a Democratic Senate. What a brilliant nation we are!
* Telling Ohio residents that Jeep is planning to move its jobs in your state to China, when nothing could be further from the truth, can cost you 18 electoral votes.
* Mitt Romney has to have been a pretty dreadful candidate to lose a presidential election in which 60 percent of exit poll respondents told CNN that the No. 1 issue on their minds as they voted was the economy.
* Saying women don't get pregnant from "legitimate rape" and that pregnancy from rape is something "God intended" doesn't win elections — and keeps the Republicans from winning control of the Senate.
* New York Times political prognosticator Nate Silver looks a genius today. (He correctly predicted the presidential result in all 49 states that have reported so far). George Will and Dick Morris? Not so much. Both predicted a landslide Electoral College win for Romney.
* Fox News commentator and ex-George W. Bush aide Karl Rove looked like an idiot by spending much of the first-half hour after President Barack Obama's re-election was deemed certain trying to convince viewers that all the networks, including Fox, jumped the gun in painting Ohio blue. Not only was he wrong, but he was too stupid to realize Ohio wouldn't matter in the end. With Obama, at that point, clearly en route to winning Colorado and Nevada, he was assured at least 285 electoral votes (15 more than needed for victory) even without Ohio. (Also: How come Rove didn't question Romney's win in North Carolina, which was narrower than Obama's in Ohio?)
* Florida still doesn't know how to finish counting votes in a timely fashion.
* Linda McMahon still doesn't get that Connecticut residents don't like her..
* In 2012, unlike 2010, identifying oneself as a member of the Tea Party does more harm than good. (Locally, just ask Nan Hayworth — far too right wing for her Lower Hudson Valley congressional district and shown the door after one term).
* We should all retire to either Colorado or the state of Washington and become pot farmers.
* Sen. Mitch McConnell is as mean (and out of touch) today as he was two years ago, evidenced by him issuing a statement critical of Obama almost immediately after the president locked up re-election.
* Julian Schreibman is a good guy but has no idea how to run a successful campaign.
* New York's judiciary lost a great man with the defeat of state Supreme Court Justice Michael Kavanagh.

OK, that's all. Time to take a break and get ready for the 2016 presidential campaign season, which I believe starts in two weeks.