Daily Rounds: Patrick, Dems Sweep Mass; Cheaper Booze Coming; National GOP Wave; What Obama Really Lost; Mom Likes You Best

Patrick roars to a 2d term - The Boston Globe "Patrick overcame a devastating recession and a high unemployment rate to convince voters that he was best equipped to lead the state toward economic recovery. His triumph was the cornerstone of a Democratic rout that set the state apart from the rest of the nation, which saw major Republican gains. The state GOP, with its hopes raised of becoming a bigger force, failed to win a single one of the 10 congressional seats or any statewide offices, including open seats for state treasurer and state auditor." (Boston Globe)

Voters limit repeals to alcohol sales tax - The Boston Globe "Exempting alcohol from the sales tax will cost the state about $110 million in revenue, finance officials have said." (Boston Globe)

GOP Seizes House; Democrats Keep Senate : NPR "Results so far show a decided shift to the right across the country. But Democrats held ground in some closely watched races and — with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's narrow win in Nevada — will manage to keep a Senate majority. President Obama, who will see his old Senate seat occupied by Republican Mark Kirk, called Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, who appears likely to be the new House speaker, to say he hopes to find "common ground" with Republicans." (npr.org) How Obama Saved Capitalism and Lost the Midterms - NYTimes.com '"We have done things that people don’t even know about,” Obama told Jon Stewart. Certainly. The three signature accomplishments of his first two years — a health care law that will make life easier for millions of people, financial reform that attempts to level the playing field with Wall Street, and the $814 billion stimulus package — have all been recast as big government blunders, rejected by the emerging majority. But each of them, in its way, should strengthen the system. The health law will hold costs down, while giving millions the chance at getting care, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Financial reform seeks to prevent the kind of meltdown that caused the global economic collapse. And the stimulus, though it drastically raised the deficit, saved about 3 million jobs, again according to the CBO...Of course, nobody gets credit for preventing a plane crash." (opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/by Tim Egan)

'Mom Always Liked You Best' - NYTimes.com "The notion that parents cherish all their children equally — or at least say they do — is so entrenched in our culture that colleagues warned Karl Pillemer, a gerontologist at Cornell University embarking on the first of many studies of family favoritism, that his research would prove futile. No mother, they insisted, would admit to caring more for one son or daughter than another. So much for that. His team’s interviewers, talking to mothers ages 65 to 75 in the Boston area about their adult offspring, found that most were perfectly willing to name favorites. “Most mothers have very distinct preferences,” Dr. Pillemer said." (newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com)