“Do not despair. Do not give up. Fight back! The Obama agenda can only succeed if we let it.”

- (From a new Heritage Foundation petition calling for Americans to commit to “a principled, conservative agenda” and “reject big government liberalism.”)

THE EXPANDING CHRISTIE

“I’m a guy who tells the truth, all the time. And if the president of the United States did something good, I was going to say he did something good and give him credit for it. But it doesn’t take away for a minute the fact that I was the first governor in America to endorse Mitt Romney, that I traveled literally tens of thousands of miles for him, raised tens of millions of dollars for him and worked harder, I think, than any other surrogate in America other than Paul Ryan. He didn’t get enough votes.”

And so says New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, explaining why Mr. Romney lost the election, to curious reporters on Wednesday. But some observers insist the Christie cachet remains, and could expand.

“Chris Christie: New Jersey governor’s bromance with President Obama rankled Republicans but Americans love bipartisanship. Christie in 2016?” asks the New York Daily News.

THE APEX OF BIAS

Yes, the mainstream media misbehaved during the presidential election, and in “historical” proportions, says Media Research Center research director and Fox News contributor Rich Noyes. Let him count the ways.

“Here are five ways the media elite tipped the public relations scales in favor of the liberal President Obama and against the conservative challenger Mitt Romney,” Mr. Noyes says.

The biased gaffe patrol hammered Mr. Romney, unfairly jumping on inconsequential mistakes — or even invented controversies. The secretly recorded “47 percent” video was hyped “like a sensational sex scandal.”

The press also pounded Mr. Romney with partisan fact checking and second guessed debate moderators, while some of those moderators “repeatedly interrupted the Republican candidate and larded the discussion with a predominantly liberal agenda,” Mr. Noyes observes.

And in fourth place, he says, was “the Benghazi blackout” on news that could expose any administration’ shortcomings in the terrorists attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Libya. And last but not least, the media was most interested in conveniently “burying the bad economy.”

Mr. Noyes adds, “These five trends took the media’s historical bias to new levels this year, and saved Obama’s presidency in the process.”

POSTELECTION, EGYPT

“The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood feels that the only foreign policy change Obama can bring is by ‘accepting the will of the Arab people.’”

“‘We must rely on ourselves and on our resources and build our country,” Issam Al-Aryan, a top Muslim Brotherhood official, said, according to The Times of Israel. ‘In the absence of direct American influence, Egypt can affect and lead the process of building a democratic and constitutional regime that will become a dream for Africa and the Southern Hemisphere.’”

- (From a news brief filed Wednesday by CBS, Washington Bureau, and the Associated Press)

THE BIG TENT

Interest groups wasted no time identifying the many demographics of voters who ultimately contributed to President Obama’s victory, from Hispanics to “women of color.” Did such voters just not “get” the Republican Party, even after a billion-dollar campaign? One Florida lawmaker thinks so.

“The conservative movement should have particular appeal to people in minority and immigrant communities who are trying to make it, and Republicans need to work harder than ever to communicate our beliefs to them,” insists Sen. Marco Rubio.

ELECTION RATINGS DERBY

Despite excruciating hype, not quite as many Americans tuned in to follow the election night results as they did four years ago. In 2008, some 38.1 million tuned in on broadcast channels; this year, it was 37.1 million viewers.

NBC won among the broadcast channels with 12.6 million viewers, followed by ABC (11.1 million), CBS (8.4 million) and Fox (5 million).

On cable, CNN proved the victor, garnering 8.8 million viewers, barely edging out Fox News with 8.7 million viewers. In third place: MSNBC, with 4.6 million.

THE BIG REVIEW

Leisure reading, perhaps. The legal and lobbyist enclave at Patton Boggs has assembled 50 attorneys and policy specialists for postelection analysis, ultimately titled “A Narrowly Divided Electorate Has Spoken: How Will the President and the Congress Respond?” It’s free to read and/or download here: https://bit.ly/QoPLnk

The big shot thinkers address the federal budget and sequestration, of course, plus 15 other topics that range from tax policy and health care to homeland security and government contracts. Of note: The 121-page analysis begins with the phrase “considering that great innovations should not be forced on slender majorities,” gleaned from a letter sent by Thomas Jefferson to Gen. Thaddeus Kosciusko, on May 2, 1808.

POLL DU JOUR

• 93 percent of U.S. manufacturers schedule Thanksgiving and the day after as paid time off; 81 percent of small businesses, 69 percent of “nonmanufacturing companies” and 65 percent of health care facilities and government agencies will do the same.

• 50 percent of companies with holiday work schedules pay overtime; 36 percent of employers impose holidays shifts on at least some workers.

• 24 percent will give employees a Thanksgiving gift; 22 percent will pay double time to shift workers.

• 16 percent will schedule Thanksgiving shifts for security employees, 15 percent will schedule shifts for maintenance employees.

• 9 percent will have professional staff on hand for Thanksgiving Day, 5 percent will have production staff on hand.

Source: A Bloomberg BNA survey of 628 manufacturers, nonprofits and other employers conducted Sept. 10 to 23 and released Monday.

• Caterwaul and polite applause to jharper@washingtontimes.com.

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