Women voters proved that politicians cannot threaten their rights with impunity. We don’t yet know the precise influence that issues like equal-pay legislation, abortion, and birth control had on the electorate. Women are more liberal than men on a whole range of issues, including the strength of the safety net, and would likely have broken for Obama even if reproductive rights had played less of a role in the race.

Michelle Goldberg writes that the influence women exercised on this year’s results goes beyond electing female representation. 

Also, there’s this. David Frum’s GOP memo (he a former Bush speechwriter and now blogger) to the GOP will be up on the site tomorrow.

“Mitt Romney is playing an old Republican game: if you don’t like the reality that exists, try to create a new one”, writes special correspondent Michael Tomasky in this week’s issue - can the president close the deal on November 6th? PLUS, Simon Schama on 50 iconic years of Bond and on tablet watch a very rare interview with Korean pop sensation Psy on the inspiration behind his “Gangnam Style” http://bit.ly/TjJF2y

Pack it in, TV producers. MSNBC just won the ‘Best Graphic of the GOP Campaign’ award for “Keystone Plight.”

Conservative trust in science just keeps going down, and down, and down, and down.

I think that focusing so much on someone’s personal, sexual, or marital affairs is a distraction. It’s a matter of degree; if it’s above a certain point, yes. If you have someone who has lived a polygamous life, that would raise questions about their character and ability to obey the law. But the fact that somebody had been divorced and remarried—so what? Infidelity? If people want to put that into their evaluation, they have the right to do so. But the first thing I want to assess is your ability to lead and solve problems.

Herman Cain, he the one-time frontrunner of the GOP primary campaign, tells us about the role he thinks sexual behavior ought to play in evaluating candidates for public office. 

ICYMI: Here’s Mitt Romney victory speech from New Hampshire (Ron Paul came in second). Check out Election Beast for our full coverage.

It’s been a tough few days for the GOP front-runner, who fumbled a debate and this morning is on record with a killer quote, saying, “I like being able to fire people who provide services.” Now, sounds like the polls are catching up. Could Mitt Romney really lose New Hampshire? Like Nate Silver tweets: It’s not likely…but the unthinkable is actually in consideration.

If you’re into politics, we’re live-chatting over here while watching the GOP debate on CNN. Howard Kurtz & Michelle Goldberg are hosts. Your nwk tumblr is moderating comments.

One-half of your nwk tumblr team is moderating a live chat during tonight’s GOP debate on CNBC. That means he’ll be approving comments and running polls while Howard Kurtz & Michelle Goldberg co-host a few hundred readers in a chat about 2012. Come, bring your armchair commentary! We want some of Tumblr Nation up in this business. The party starts at 8pm ET. You should be able to chat in the thingy above, but if not, visit the Beast. T-MINUS ONE HOUR.