It seems like the election may have had a real affect on the general attitude here in Washington.

This is a growing problem for all centre-right parties throughout the democratic world. People like the benefits of a larger state but don't want to have to pay for it (leading to moments like the now legendary 'Keep Your Government Hands Off My Medicare' Tea Party placard). You don't need to be an economic genius to understand that if you spend more while making less, you're going to run into debt problems eventually. And it's a problem the Republicans better come up with better answers to in 2016 if they want the White House back.

So what next for Hillary? In the short term we don't know, but in the long term she will run for President in 2016. This has always remained her ambition despite her 2008 defeat when she faced more than just a candidate. She lost out to an ideology, the hysteria, glitz and glamour. She and Bill know that she has the capability and financial backing to annihilate a Romney or McCain.

The Republicans need to be careful about making token gestures, either in terms of legislation or candidates. They need deep, and sustained outreach over many years and a new constructive approach to policymaking in this area if they are to be credible and successful.

The exit polling data is clear. Apart from political party, no other measure explains the outcome of the election more than race and ethnicity. Not gender, not religion, not age.

In Barack Obama, Martin Luther King's dream has come true.

One thing is for certain, however. In 2012, super PAC politics proved ineffective when faced with a massive Obama turnout/campaign machine that was able to mobilize the base and push huge numbers of supporters to wait in line and vote for the incumbent. It appears that grassroots efforts and microtargeting, as old school as these electoral methods may appear, trumped the new, emerging brand of super PAC politics. Good.

Women of America, you have totally, utterly inspired me. Between bandaging my fingernails and sighing a huge sigh of relief, I can only think to say: you really really do go, girls.

And so here we are, the most wonderful time of the (every four) year(s)!

We should be wary of how ultra-liberal (in the sense of laissez-faire) ideas can de-establish some of our most important traditions. This stuff matters.

My faith in Obama was justified. We won again - and I don't mean just Obama, the Democrats or the people who voted for him. I truly believe that every man, woman and child - no matter what colour their skin, ancestry, faith or sexual orientation - has won something from the re-election of Barack Obama as the President of the United States.

Since starting to watch the election coverage over a range of different news channels on Tuesday evening I've listened to a lot of analysts try to suggest many different things, the most outrageous of all being Obama's second term will be that of a lame duck president. This is highly unlikely although how much social and domestic change takes place in the US over the next four years is open for debate. What is certain is that Obama will continue to pursue the economic policies of the last four years and that's where the continuity comes in.

Republican and Tea Party pundits have talked about the potential for these burgeoning groups to change their voting preferences over time. But the GOP clearly risks long-term demographic suicide if its leaders continue their love-hate relationship with the centre without finding more imaginative ways to meet these voters halfway.

Although the president came out on top last night, the mountain in front of him remains as high and the path to the summit as steep as it was just a few days ago.

I don't think that Obama is anything to rave about. But in the end, Romney and the conservative far right let him win by refusing to align their social policy with the views of an enlightened modern population. The Conservatives need to be progressive and inclusive to survive the next election in the same way that Obama has done.

When he won his first election four years ago, he promised to restore America's reputation in the world. But as he starts his second and final term following a strong election victory last night, president Barack Obama resumes service in the White House with a reputation abroad as a hard-nosed leader who killed Osama Bin Laden and who sent drones to pursue extremists in far-flung places.

President Obama's re-election win wasn't an affirmation of his less than glorious first-term, but more a dislike of the alternative in a nation where choices in elected officials have become fewer and largely dependent on big money.

It's the thought sending a shiver down the spine of the rest of the world - well, except Pakistan. What if we wake up tomorrow to see President Oba...

There have been rumours, and they are just rumours at the moment, that Ann Romney will be dressed as a Welsh cake on Election Night. She'll be there, telling the world how her grandparents showed her how to make Welsh cakes, and how she wants to continue the tradition to her children and so on and so forth

The latest psychological research suggests the protracted campaign, adversarial debates, plotted strategy, choice of running mates, elaborately groomed wives, and carefully schemed policies, have a lot less to do with the final result, than the politicians or the media pundits, would have you believe.