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Over the next few weeks, Republicans will begin the painful self-examination that follows electoral defeat. That process is likely to reveal new schisms in the party on domestic issues like immigration and possibly even gay marriage.

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Liz and Dick. Romeo and Juliet. Celebrities and Obama.The love affair between the rich and famous and he of hope and change is as storied as any of the most famous romances. But while it’s en vogue for Hollywood to support and raise money for President Obama, only a brave few have set their endorsement to song.

When MSNBC announced a new show hosted by the Rev. Al Sharpton more than a year ago, many weren’t sure what to expect from the controversial civil rights leader. The cable network was promptly criticized for not assigning the high-profile job to a seasoned African-American journalist, and others worried that Sharpton’s no-nonsense tone and strong racial views would be much too radical for mainstream news.

More than 40 hours after the state’s polls closed on election night, the Obama campaign claimed victory in Florida Thursday. “I wish President Barack Obama congratulations on his reelection and on winning Florida’s 29 electoral votes,” Florida’s Democratic Party chair said in a statement.

Alan Diaz

Curled up on a couch Wednesday night just inside the open doors of the Cuba Ocho Art and Research Center in the heart of Miami’s Little Havana are Roberto Ramos, and his wife, Yeney Farinas-Ramos. They own this 5,700-square foot gallery and cultural center and they are exhausted, enjoying their first real moment since a chaotic Election Day.

Mary Altaffer / AP Photo

For a major-party nominee, the selection of a running mate is the first “presidential” decision. Some choices have worked out well. In 1992, when Bill Clinton selected a fellow Southerner, Sen. Al Gore of Tennessee, to create the “Double Bubba” ticket, he energized a new generation in the Democratic Party.

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I was sitting at a lunch counter on Monday, less than 24 hours before the polls opened, thinking about the one thing that was keeping me up most nights: on Election Day, would Latinos show up and translate our potential to political power?Just then, I heard two voices—loud, vibrant, New Yorker accents belonging to a pair of strong women.

On Tuesday night, I watched the election with a brother and nephew keen on calling each state’s outcome minutes before MSNBC did—foolishness, I pointed out, since they had only to wait a few hours to learn confirmed results. But for these two puerile sports fans, the evening was almost as much about the play-by-play as how things turned out.

Ted S. Warren / AP Photo

Same-sex marriage supporters celebrated across the country Tuesday night as Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Washington all passed referendums supporting legal unions for gay couples, while pot proponents cheered the momentous marijuana measures that passed.

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Most of the country had gone to sleep, but President Obama was hitting the rhetorical heights for a cheering Chicago crowd shortly before 2 a.m. Wednesday, calling for “a generous America,” “a compassionate America,” “a tolerant America.

Paul Beaty / AP Photo

No matter how they tried, the joyous crowd of the pre-selected celebrants at Chicago’s McCormick Place could not deny the changes four years had wrought. In contrast to the unbridled spontaneity of that Tuesday night in a public park back in November 2008, this year’s Obama victory rally was the result of carefully engineered stagecraft.

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Women made history this week, scoring a slew of interesting firsts for Congress, including the first openly gay person in the Senate, the first Asian-American woman in the Senate, and the first Hindu-American in Congress. A record number of women—binders full, some might say—will serve in Congress, with 20 in the Senate and at least 76 in the House, according to the Center for American Women and Politics.

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Asked what she would be looking for on Election Night, Cokie Roberts said on ABC’s Sunday show: “I’m going to be watching women. I’m very curious to know whether this year Republicans have done to women what they’ve managed to do to Hispanics and blacks.

David Kohl / AP Photo

As Paul Ryan delivered his speech to the Republican National Convention in August, a phalanx of partisans and pundits lurked on Twitter and in the blogosphere, aggressively fact-checking his every utterance. Ryan offered a rather large, slow-moving target—it was a red-meat campaign speech, after all—and the following day a narrative had developed: While all politicians engage in some level of dishonesty, the Romney-Ryan ticket was preternaturally, if not historically, dishonest.

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To all those ultraconservatives who were convinced that America would never reelect a “lazy” “Kenyan” “socialist” “fraud”:America is not what you think it is.I understand how you’re feeling right now. Betrayed. Bewildered. Indignant.