Republicans are still saying all over the place that Obama voters are moochers. They insist they lost the election because Obama voters didn't want to work and sleep till noon.

Here are more of those Obama voters—uh, at work—"sleeping till noon":

Jamie Roberts:

"My name is Jamie Roberts. I work as a technical recruiter and I also live on and run my family’s small farm in east King County. I’m at work from 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., but my real work day starts at 6:00 a.m. and ends around 8:00 p.m. when I take the farm related chores into account. My awesome Obama supporting parents own the farm but my boyfriend and I have paid their mortgage along with taxes since they retired to Eastern WA and we took over about two years ago. When I finally sit down for dinner at 8:30 or 9:00 p.m. and flip on the TV to hear a Republican on a 'lazy Obama supporters' tirade I want to have an angry freak out… But after a 14 hour day I’m far too tired for that. I supported Obama and no matter what my crazy extended family says, I stand by my choice!"

Isis:

"Hi, I'm Isis and here I am at 8.30 this morning building custom bicycles. I proudly voted for Obama in my adoptive state of PA. I have been completely financially independent since I graduated college in 2010. I certainly wouldn't MIND sleeping till noon, but that's not what living in this country is about. And the bikes won't build themselves!"

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As I wrote few minutes ago, Republicans still insist that Obama voters are moochers who don't work, don't pay taxes, and sleep till noon. So I asked folks to send me their photos of them at work "sleeping till noon." Here's the first person to reply:

• Dana Hoare

"My name is Dana Hoare," writes Dana Hoare. "I work as a patient financial services manager at a hospital in Boston and work M-F 8:30am - 6pm. I pay my taxes and mortgage, give charitably, provide care+ support for my retired parents and my partner's elderly mother. Mitt Romney was my governor and I proudly voted for Obama."

Are you also an Obama voter who's working—before noon, after noon, owning your own business perhaps? They say you don't exist. Send me a photo of you at work (with a brief message to Thomas, Romney, Limbaugh, and the rest of the GOP if you like) and I'll post em. Send 'em here.

I have a lot of nits to pick with Danny Westneat's post-election analysis, not the least of which being the unstated Part II of his thesis: If in fact, as Danny says, the Republicans "could've, would've, should've" won the election had they not "botched it, big time" by being the God Loves Rape-Babies Party or something, it kinda-sorta implies that Democrats had nothing to do with their own victory. Certainly, Danny's column doesn't give them any credit.

Yes, Republicans contributed greatly to their own defeat, but the Democrats put up strong candidates, campaigned strategically, and conducted a helluva GOTV effort. And many of them won their elections while being substantially outspent.

But my bigger nit is with Danny's presentation of public perceptions of Obamacare:

And then this contrary factoid: Here in the supposed Soviet of Washington, 53 percent of voters told exit pollsters they want to scrap either all or parts of the health-care-reform law. Only 41 percent said they want to keep it or expand it.

[...] Remember, the voters of the state tend to agree with McKenna about the health-care law. But I bet they were looking for a more mature approach. Such as: How can we fix this law?

Except, I betcha, Danny, that the majority of state voters don't actually understand the health-care law. Explain to voters the provisions on pre-existing conditions and portability and keeping adult children on their policies, etc., and voters will support these overwhelmingly. Of course, they hate the mandate. Who likes a mandate? But if they actually understood how it worked, they wouldn't hate it so much.

Come back in four years—after Obamacare has been fully implemented—and poll voters about whether they want it repealed. It'll be a different story. That's why Republicans fought so hard to repeal it before voters could start enjoying its benefits.

That Republicans "could've" won this election, I don't dispute. That Rob McKenna "should've" won by misrepresenting to voters both Obamacare and the real-world impact of the lawsuit he pushed, strikes me as an awfully cynical analysis. Or awfully simple. Or just plain awful.

I have to admit that I was a bit surprised to learn that Rob McKenna had conceded the governor's race late yesterday afternoon, before many counties—including populous King—had reported their daily tally. Just one day before, McKenna campaign manager Randy Pepple had released a video (after the jump) explaining the campaign's mathematical path to victory . "[McKenna] asked me to talk to you today about some of the numbers behind the confidence he expressed yesterday," Pepple tells the camera, while standing in front of a white board with a bunch of numbers scribbled on it.

Pepple had argued that internal polling showed that late voters had broken hard for McKenna, and that we would start to see that trend accelerate sharply in Friday's ballot drop. But by mid-afternoon it was clear that this just wasn't happening. While some counties continued to trend modestly toward McKenna in yesterday's count, others were moving in Jay Inslee's direction. Indeed, of the 33 counties that reported results yesterday, only 16 had splits more favorable to McKenna than the Tuesday night results or the running average.

With about 85 percent of the ballots counted, Inslee's 51-49 margin is about half a point smaller than on election night, but his numerical lead has grown by more than 5,000 votes to 55,682. Even the math-challenged McKenna camp could see that there was no realistic way to make up that gap.

For similar reasons, I would expect Democrat Kathleen Drew to concede the Secretary of State's race* to Republican Kim Wyman. What was a 14,000 vote gap on election night has steadily widened to a 42,000 vote Wyman lead. I wouldn't be surprised to see this modest Republican trend reverse itself in subsequent ballot counts, but there just aren't enough ballots left to make a difference. Wyman has won.

Finally, in the only other allegedly undecided race, the billionaire-backed I-1240 charter schools initiative, the gap continues to narrow, but not nearly fast enough. No matter how much I want I-1240 to fail, I have to put my faith in the data, and the data tells that I-1240 has won.

So there you have it. There are still a couple legislative races that are legitimately too close to call, but at the statewide level, it's all over but the final margin.

* UPDATE: Shortly after I posted, Drew announced that she had conceded:

"Today, I called Kim Wyman to congratulate her on a hard fought victory and to concede the race. I know that she will carry forward Washington's tradition of fair and impartial elections, and I am optimistic that she will work on measures to remove barriers and increase voter participation."

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• Goldy | The Stranger
• Governor elect Jay Inslee claims victory at his Seattle headquarters.

Republican Rob McKenna conceded Washington's governors race late this afternoon (which is really a shame, because I sure was looking forward to at least a few more days of mocking him about his electoral math), prompting Democrat Jay Inslee to call an impromptu press conference to claim victory.

"I represent 100 percent of the people of Washington State, starting tonight," Inslee told a cheering crowd of staffers, just in time to make it live onto the 6:30 p.m. news.

I'll give McKenna credit: It was a menschy thing to do, to concede now so that Inslee's team could enjoy their weekend, rather than unnecessarily dragging this out for days or longer. Of course, it wasn't so menschy that once again The Stranger was not even notified of his announcement.

More thoughts a little later on this sudden end to the governors race.

UPDATE: Just wanted to take a moment to point out that The Stranger was the only media outlet to call this election for Inslee, and the balls to call it on Tuesday night. And it wasn't just bravado or hubris or booze (though there was a little of all three). We ran the numbers in advance of the election and consulted experts we trusted after the ballots dropped. It was an informed conclusion.

I mention this not just to gloat, but to point out that all this whining about having to wait to learn the outcome of the governor's race was bullshit. Anybody who understood the math understood that Inslee was almost certainly the winner.

• This was an actual, real part of Rob McKenna's campaign for governor.

Republican Rob McKenna conceded the gubernatorial race to Democrat Jay Inslee on Friday evening.

In a conference call with reporters, McKenna's campaign manager, Randy Pepple, said McKenna called Inslee shortly before 6 p.m. to congratulate him on winning the race.

Pepple said McKenna made the decision after the latest vote count showed he could not overcome the lead that Inslee has enjoyed since Election Day.

McKenna initially had argued he'd come back and win on the strength of late voters who'd break for him.

But, alas, there just weren't enough chicks for Rob.

UPDATE: This was first posted at 6:09 p.m. and moved up to announce that Inslee will soon address reporters. You know, in public. McKenna was apparently too fucking cowardly to make his announcement in public—he had to make his campaign manager do it for him on a conference call that certain media outlets were not invited on. What a worm. I'm thrilled for Governor-elect Inslee, of course, but God how I mourn for the joy that would have been four years of The Stranger covering a McKenna administration.

UPDATE AT 7:18 PM: Slog commenter Timothy found out that Rob McKenna has posted his concession speech in a YouTube video:

I have to say it: On this sort of thing, Obama and I must part. The only person who should be crying in this whole president business is Romney. Romney crying would be satisfying; Obama crying makes things so awkward. One should strive to be a philosopher, and a true philosopher masters and manages their emotions and presents to all occasions, to all challenges in life the same knowing eye. Recall what that Roman politician was told when seen wailing uncontrollably for the death of a friend or relative: Man, where is thy philosophy? Meaning, it's as if you never knew this would eventually happen to you, as if you never prepared for the worst. All of this time, you were not building a philosophy. And now you just cry. How ridiculous of you.

This is a guest post from regular Slog commenter Enigma.

A theme you may have noticed in the conservative world is the idea that on Tuesday night "Takers" won. People who have no interest in contributing to society and just want to mooch off the hard-working bankers, or "Makers," this country depends on.

What makes me the most upset about this interpretation from the right is the idea that they refuse to acknowledge the people who want to be "Givers." People who are happy and proud to pay taxes as a representation of contributing to a society we share and want to function.

I come from a childhood on welfare. My mom got WIC to make sure I had nutritious food to eat in the first few years of my life. After that, most of my childhood was spent on Food Stamps. Of course, the voices on the right want to vilify my family for not making enough money to afford food and pay a mortgage, pay for cars and gas, which are necessary in a city without a functioning transit system, and provide clothes and electricity and maybe a money for school trips for three kids (which the right demands to be born regardless of the circumstances of the parents).

We were "Takers." My dad paid taxes the years he made enough, but we were still "Takers."

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Posted by news intern Chelsea Kellogg

Will Republican Rob McKenna have conceded the governor's race by next week? Who knows. But on Wednesday, November 14, a panel of political types will discuss what happened in Election 2012. The annual panel is held at Hale's Ales Brewery and Pub (4301 Leary NW) and features know-it-alls to hypothesize about what legalized weed will look like, explain how marriage squeaked through, and answer any questions still lingering after the election.

Panelists include: travel writer and I-502 supporter Rick Steves, mastermind of Approve 74 Senator Ed Murray, not-endorsed-by-The Stranger Representative-Elect Gael Tarleton, Representative Reuven Carlyle, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, and Stranger news editor Dominic Holden. Also at the event will be a participation-optional silent auction to benefit the campaign of Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles.

The real question is whether Gael Tarleton will kill Dominic with her bare hands.

A lot has been written about the huge electoral advantage Democrats hold with non-white voters. While Mitt Romney won 59 percent of the white vote, Barack Obama hauled in 80 percent of the non-white voters who made up 28 percent of the 2012 electorate, including an impressive 93 percent of Black voters, 71 percent of Latinos, and 73 percent of Asians.

Well, despite Romney's concerted efforts to portray himself as the better friend of Israel, and Obama as an Iranian appeaser, it turns out that President Obama also earned an overwhelming 70 percent of the Jewish vote. That puts my people right up there with Latino and Asian Americans in terms of presidential preference.

Take that, Whitey!

Of course, most Jews are technically white. That's the box I checked on my census form. It's one of the things that makes us so scary: Our ability to pass.

But while things are certainly better for American Jews than they were a half-century ago, historically we've always been an oppressed and despised minority. From the dominance of Christian culture to the latent anti-semitism that still lurks beneath the surface, we know what it's like to be "the other," even if our grandparents knew it a helluva lot better than we do, and none of us have ever known it as well as African Americans.

I believe that it is this empathy for the minority experience that informs the Jewish electorate, and drives us toward the party that defends civil rights and embraces economic, ethnic, gender, and religious diversity.

First off, let's just put any lingering concerns over R-74 to rest. It closed Tuesday night with 51.79 percent support, and a 68,111 vote lead. Two days later it enjoys 52.56 percent support and a 123,478 vote lead. About 75 percent of the vote is now in, and the late ballots have trended toward approval. R-74 has won. It's not worth tracking anymore. So I won't.

Mazel tov.

As for the governor's race, I know Rob McKenna is telling reporters (at least, those he's on speaking terms with) that he has the math to take the lead. But if there's one thing we learned from his campaign, it's that Rob McKenna isn't very good at math.

Democrat Jay Inslee got 51.32 percent of the 1.9 million ballots counted on election night, for a 50,209 vote lead. Another 575K ballots later, Inslee's margin has been squeezed slightly to 51.13 percent, while his numerical lead has actually grown to 54,398 votes. It doesn't do McKenna much good to narrow the margin without chipping away at Inslee's overall lead.

McKenna's thesis is that early voters broke for Inslee, but that late voters broke for him. And in fact, we're beginning to see that trend, particularly in King County, where Inslee won only 56.7 percent of yesterday's smaller second drop, sharply down from his 63 percent election night tally. That's a pretty big swing. But it's just one, smallish, local batch, and statewide, it hasn't yet proved big enough. Indeed, while fifteen counties have trended toward McKenna since Tuesday, eight counties have actually moved a bit in Inslee's direction, including Yakima and Pierce. The result has been a bit of a wash.

The problem for McKenna's math wizards is that the pool of uncounted ballots is fast running dry (maybe 600K to 800K remain), and King County still accounts for a slightly disproportionate share of those outstanding. I'll continue to keep a close eye on this race, but I still don't expect to regret calling it for Inslee on election night.

But there are two other statewide races that can legitimately still be considered too close to call: I-1240, the billionaire-backed charter schools initiative, and the race for Secretary of State between Democrat Kathleen Drew and Republican Kim Wyman. That said, don't expect either to flip their leads.

I-1240 led Tuesday night with 51.24 percent support and a 46,178 vote lead. Today its lead has shrunk to 50.97 percent support and 45,582 votes. That's the right direction, but barring an explicable late surge in the No vote, too little too late to kill the fucker.

In the Secretary of State race, Wyman has actually expanded her lead, from a bare 50.39 percent and 14,243 votes on election night, to 50.71 percent and 32,499 votes today. That's the wrong direction for Drew, and I see no reason to expect it to change course.

So there you have it. For all the bellyaching about slow ballot counts, it appears the election night results will stand. And for good reason: 60 percent is a pretty damn big statistical sample.

King County just dropped its first of two anticipated ballot drops today—76,779 ballots worth—bumping Jay Inslee up to a 51.36 to 48.64 percent statewide lead, and a 60,062 vote margin. Democrat Kathleen Drew has also closed the gap a bit in the Secretary of State's race, in which she now trails Republican Kim Wyman by 50.44 to 49.56 percent and a 18,516 vote margin. R-74's lead now stands at 52.44 to 47.56 percent, and a comfortable 108,051 vote margin.

But... there are still a bunch of other counties that have yet to report today, so these statewide numbers are kinda meaningless. More important are the trends. Inslee won this afternoon's King County drop with 60.5 percent of the vote. That's worse than the 63.0 percent he pulled in on election night, but better than the 59.39 percent he earned from yesterday's batch. Inslee now has 62.45 percent of the total King County vote tallied thus far.

I'll run the numbers later tonight when they're all in.

Joe McDermott, chair of the King County Council's budget committee, was coming down to the wire this week to finish the budget when voters approved gay marriage on Tuesday, a vote that prompted county budget analysts to predict a spike in marriage license applications that will create about $50,000 in new revenue.

A conservative estimate, McDermott says, shows about 770 marriage license applications for same-sex couples in the the next year. Each application costs $64.

So what was McDermott going to do with that money?

He drafted an 11th-hour amendment that directs that $50,000 into programs that help at-risk queer youth. "I wanted there to be a nexus between that money and where it went," says McDermott, who is the county council's first openly gay member and who intends to marry his partner. "We know that LGBTQ youth are overrepresented in at-risk, homeless, runaway, and sexually trafficked youth populations."

All nine members of the council's budget committee passed the amendment this morning—that's all the Democrats and all the Republican on the council—assuring its adoption into the full budget. It directs $35,000 for at-risk youth programs run by the nonprofit Youth Care and $15,000 for Lambert House.

Joe McDermott rocks.

The Romney campaign just conceded Florida. The final electoral tally was 332 votes for Obama, 206 for Romney. The final, official popular vote numbers are still probably a long way out.

I'd been working on an analysis of election returns to try to discern if there are any trends that might reverse a handful of close statewide races, but N in Seattle filled his spreadsheet faster than me, so for the moment, I suggest checking out his post over on HA:

• Governor — not much has changed. Jay remains in the lead, but Rob still has a chance. Maybe even a slightly greater chance than he did after Tuesday’s count.
• Referendum 74 — Approved stretches its lead. I think the marriage-equality supporters have every right to claim victory.
• Secretary of State — Wyman tiptoes a bit farther ahead, but it’s still much too close to call

I concur with everything N writes. But it's important to emphasize that yesterday's smaller than expected King County drop skews the statewide results towards the Republicans. King County only comprised 24.7 of yesterday's results; it will ultimately account for about 30 percent of the final tally. That's a big difference.

Looking at past turnout performance and current turnout projections it sure does look like the only statewide race in play is Secretary of State, with the edge clearly going to Republican Kim Wyman. But I'll continue to look for race-changing late-voter trends as the data comes in.

As Goldy pointed out in the morning news, almost 75 percent of Asians voted for Obama. The GOP has to see the end of the road in this fact. Why? Bloomberg:

Asian-Americans happen to be the highest-earning group in the U.S., out-earning whites, and they generally place enormous emphasis on family. A perfect fit for Republicans, no? No.

The real rupture in American politics is in the area of the Republican party. The exact location of this break is between its working-class base and the top layer of its professional/business elites. The break is not an isolated event but a part of the larger transformation of American politics—its current Europeanization. Obama's rise to power is also a consequence of this process. The result of Obama's presidency will be an increase of the government's role in the management of civil society; as for the break in the GOP, the result will be an American political system that has three parts: the Dems, the Republicans, and the far right. Or put another way: Obama, McCain, and Palin. The post-Obama problem for the Republicans will be how to draw to its side the more moderate elements of the hegemonic block that the Dems consolidated in Denver. As for Palin's far-right party, which, like its corresponding parties in Europe, will remain powerful but never strong enough to control the political system.

After a couple hour delay, King County finally reported an additional 52,000 or so ballots today that largely didn't change anything. Compared to last night's count, today's ballots appear to be trending slightly more Republican, though not all the counties that will report have reported, so I've yet to run the numbers through my spreadsheet. For the moment, Jay Inslee and R-74 still lead by similar margins as last night.

The bigger news though is the turnout. King County Elections estimates that it has received about 985,000 ballots so far, about an 84 percent turnout. If past experience is any guide, there are still about another 25,000 ballots in the mail. That could push turnout up over 86 percent. No idea yet on how this compares to the rest of the state.

UPDATE: All the counties that will report today have reported today, and today's batch did trend slightly toward Rob McKenna. Inslee now leads with 51.16 percent of the vote and 48,766 vote margin, down from 51.32 percent and a 50,209 vote margin last night. A caveat, though: Due to King County's lower than expected ballot report today, King County makes up a significantly smaller percentage of today's new ballots statewide: Only 24.7 percent today of the ballots counted today compared to 28.6 percent of those reported last night. King County has 30 percent of registered voters statewide, so today's trend isn't enough to suggest a late McKenna surge.

On the other hand, Referendum 74 actually expanded its lead, from 51.79 percent and a 68,111 vote margin last night to 51.96 percent and a 82,698 vote margin today. So R-74's sponsor should remain perfectly comfortable in declaring victory.

More analysis later.

Now that Washington State voters have passed Initiative 502 to legalize marijuana, Sergeant Sean Whitcomb, a spokesman for the Seattle Police Department, says this: "For us, the law has changed, and people can expect no enforcement for possession." The law takes effect on December 6.

To put Whitcomb's comments in context, check out the post I wrote earlier today about I-502; prosecutors explained that they wouldn't be charging pot possession cases starting on December 6, and the city attorney said there's nothing the feds could do about the state's new possession law.

Still, Whitcomb acknowledges that implementing legalization is uncharted territory, particularly portions of the law that deal with licensing growers, distributors, and sellers. "It is complicated because state law is now in contrast to federal law," he says. "We are in this gray area right now where we are going to be looking for some immediate guidance from the Washington State Attorney General's Office," which is run by Republican Rob McKenna (at least for the next two months).

But he reiterates: "What you can expect is no enforcement on possession—that is a reasonable expectation."

The Washington State Liquor Control Board will now begin a rule-making process for potential marijuana businesses that will last at least one year. Whitcomb reminds people that, until then, selling pot remains illegal. "There are some people who think this is going to be de facto legal everything," he says, "and that is just not correct."

You can stop refreshing the King County Election results page now. They're not going to post the next drop at 4:30 p.m. as scheduled:

Sucks to be doing the 5 o' clock news, Essex.

That Unskewed Polls Guy:

Chambers' method of "unskewing" polls involved re-weighting the sample to match what he believed the electorate would look like, in terms of party identification. He thought the electorate would lean more Republican when mainstream pollsters routinely found samples that leaned Democratic.

But as it turned out, the pollsters were right — self-identified Democrats outnumbered Republicans by 6% in election exit polls.

"I think it was much more in the Democratic direction than most people predicted," Chambers said. "But those assumptions — my assumptions — were wrong."

Dick Morris:

The key reason for my bum prediction is that I mistakenly believed that the 2008 surge in black, Latino, and young voter turnout would recede in 2012 to “normal” levels. Didn’t happen. These high levels of minority and young voter participation are here to stay. And, with them, a permanent reshaping of our nation’s politics.

Glad to see these schmucks owning up to their errors. Has Karl Rove pulled his thumb out of his mouth long enough to apologize for his election night snit-fit yet?

Did you see how happy these people were this morning? Now look at how happy these folks were, at the party for Washington’s Initiative 502 at Hotel Andra last night. Holy pot smokin' shit!

• Victoria Holt

More party photos after the jump...

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CNN says:

In an overshadowed Election Day contest, Puerto Ricans voted in favor of statehood in a nonbinding referendum, marking the first time such an initiative garnered a majority.

Puerto Ricans were asked about their desires in two parts. First, by a 54% to 46% margin, voters rejected their current status as a U.S. commonwealth. In a separate question, 61% chose statehood as the alternative, compared with 33% for the semi-autonomous "sovereign free association" and 6% for outright independence

It's way more complex than that, of course—our relationship with Puerto Rico is nothing if not complex—and it obviously doesn't guarantee statehood at all. But it does indicate that our relationship with Puerto Rico is due for serious reassessment. What do you think?

Okay, okay: I'm just going to put up one more schadenfreude post and then I promise it's back to work. Over at The Corner, John J. Miller writes, "So, it’s pretty clear that Chris Christie won’t be the GOP nominee in 2016, right?"

What follows in the comments is an amazing display of conservative self-torture one-upmanship. Seriously, it's like a masturbatory, conservative 50 Shades of Grey:

I'd rather vote Ron Paul, and I think Ron Paul is a loon. I'd rather walk through fire. I'd rather not eat for two weeks. I'd rather go skydiving without a parachute.

Yes. Yes I would vote for Ron Paul before Christie too. In fact, I would walk through that fire with you to vote for Paul before I supported Christie.

I would carry the two of you on my back through burning broken glass for this exercise.

To add to the totally justified hyperbole: I would rather nail my hand to a burning building than vote for Christie.

Here at Stranger HQ, the cheap champagne is flowing, there's QFC pie and Cool Whip on the table, and we're engaging in some hard-earned gloating about the happy state of marriage, pot, and our other favorite pet issue, Republican Rob McKenna.

Specifically, we're wondering what McKenna ate for breakfast on this fine fall morning—a morning that brings him one step closer to his eventual gubernatorial defeat? Did he fortify his belly with a hearty breakfast of Stranger hack journalists, as his charming daughter and campaign worker Madeleine McKenna once suggested? Or did he stick to a simpler diet of imported jam on sourdough toast?

We can only drink more and speculate. So we must, and wildly!!!