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Analysts and reporters focused on the dip in optimism from the election four years ago. But at virtually no point did they appear to entertain the idea that President Obama may have won voters' trust on a personal level, identified policies that voters found appealing, or notched any worthwhile accomplishments.

The lame-duck Congress has just weeks to jump to the rescue of an economy moving closer and closer to the so-called fiscal cliff — a $600 billion cluster of automatic spending cuts and tax hikes due to hit at year's end.

Initial indications from within the GOP were that Mitt Romney's defeat wasn't seen as a rejection of the Republican platform as much as a failure of its standard-bearer to run a competent enough campaign to defeat a vulnerable incumbent.

In Florida, the presidential race is still too close to call. Exit polls show President Obama with strong support among Black and Hispanic voters in the state. The party retained a Senate seat and picked up a few key congressional races.

Voters have given President Obama a second term in office. He defeated Republican Mitt Romney in a hard-fought race in which the economy was the dominant issue. In the end, Obama narrowly won the popular vote but captured more than 300 electoral votes to Romney's 206.

Media companies are counting themselves among the winners in the 2012 election. SuperPAC spending on political ads will push the total amount spent past 2008 totals. The biggest beneficiaries are the usual suspects: Comcast, Disney, NewsCorp and CBS, but also locally owned TV and radio stations — especially those in swing states like Ohio and Florida.

For better or worse, the financial markets face a little less uncertainty — investors know who's going to be president for the next four years. Steve Inskeep talks to David Wessel, economics editor of The Wall Street Journal, about what the outcome of the presidential election means for the economy and financial markets.

Voters in Washington state and Colorado approved ballot measures legalizing recreational marijuana use. In Colorado, the drug will be regulated like alcohol. Residents over 21 years old will be allowed up to an ounce of marijuana.

British Prime Minister David Cameron sent one of the first messages, saying Obama was a "successful American president" and he looked forward to working with him. In Kenya, where Obama's grandmother lives, there was jubilation at the news.

The cult favorite 1965 novel Dune was a classic of sci-fi literature. But author Leigh Bardugo says that when she was 12, Dune wasn't just an escape — it changed her world. Has a book ever opened your eyes to an alternate reality? Tell us in the comments.