The Biggest Winners and Losers of 2012

No sooner had the haze cleared from the GOP’s 2012 train wreck than the hand-wringing began (yes, even by me) over the future of the Republican Party.

Faced with defeats in the Senate as well as the presidency, GOP leader Sen. John Cornyn called for “reflection and recalibration.”

“While some will want to blame one wing of the party over the other,” the Texas Republican said, “the reality is candidates from all corners of GOP lost tonight.”

The election’s impact extended far beyond the political arena, however.  Here are my lists of winners and losers, after the thousand slings and arrows of 2012.

BIG WINNERS

Health Insurance Companies

Shortly after the race was called for President Obama, America’s Health Insurance Plans, an industry trade group, congratulated the incumbent and “members of Congress in both parties.”  Virtually no obstacle remains to the 2014 implementation of Obamacare, and millions of Americans will be required by their government to become customers of the insurance industry, which expects to reap a windfall.

Sen. Rob Portman

Ohio, Ohio, Ohio.  The GOP lost the state, but that might have been different if Mitt Romney had tapped the state’s popular Republican Senator Rob Portman.  The affable Portman helped Romney draw crowds there, and played the key role in prepping Romney for the debate that was Romney’s best moment.

Banks and Wall Street

Despite President Obama’s “tax the rich” rhetoric, banks and the investment community have reaped billions thanks to the cheap money policies promulgated by the Federal Reserve.  True, Wall Street is nervous about the fiscal cliff, as reflected in the market selloff the day after Obama won.  But the too-big-to-fail banks are bigger than ever, and Wall Street has enjoyed record profits in this stimulus-happy of deficit spending.

Hillary Clinton

The first call Obama placed after Mitt Romney conceded was to thank Bill Clinton for his support.  Due in part to husband Bill, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton now has so many chips to call in across the Democratic Party, she has to be considered the inside favorite for the Democratic nomination is 2016.  Even gaffe-machine Joe Biden probably couldn’t stop her.

House Speaker John Boehner

Boehner is the No. 1 GOP leader left standing on Capitol Hill.  There were worries that the Republicans might lose control of the House but, despite the Democrats’ onslaught, they kept a solid majority.  His Senate counterpart, Sen. Mitch McConnell, lost a golden opportunity to gain ground in the Senate.  If Obama wants a bipartisan legacy, he’ll have to do business with Boehner.

China

The rising nation’s communist leaders were among the first to congratulate President Obama, and why not?  After all, Romney had promised to label them “currency manipulators” in his first day in office.  Under Obama, with trillion-dollar deficits projected for as far as the eye can see, they can rest assured that America’s fiscal solvency will continue to spiral downhill.

Marco Rubio

Being passed over as Mitt Romney’s running mate was probably a blessing in disguise for Rubio, the inspirational junior senator from Florida.  He served up a rousing speech at the party’s national convention and established himself as a rising star in the GOP.  By grabbing 69 percent of the Hispanic vote Obama exposed Republicans’ vulnerability with that demographic. Rubio, a bilingual Cuban-American, is uniquely positioned to hone his party’s appeal to Latinos.

Jeb Bush

After Obama captured an eye-popping 69 percent of the Hispanic vote, the former Florida governor is arguably the most Latino-friendly Republican on the national scene.  A bona fide conservative, he also had demonstrated a willingness to challenge his party’s orthodoxy.  Footnote:  There is no path to a GOP presidency without Florida.

BIGGEST LOSERS

Sen. Mitch McConnell

When the cycle began, it looked like the senior senator from Kentucky could soon be sizing the drapes in the majority leader’s office.  Now, Republicans remain stuck in the minority and McConnell has to worry about winning re-election in 2014.  He’ll be fortunate to avoid a serious grass-roots challenge in the primary.

The Tea Parties

The tea party activists were unable to help Romney carry Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, or Ohio, raising inevitable questions about their ongoing influence.  Party insiders and operatives, moreover, will not soon forget the Senate losses in Indiana (Richard Mourdock) and Missouri (Todd Akin).

Super PACs

After all the talk by Democrats that billionaires would use the super PACs to buy the election, it is not clear what difference they actually made.  Republican PACs spent an estimated $355 million, compared to $272 million for Democrats.  Next time, well-heeled donors may think twice before opening their wallets, considering the results.

Scott Brown

The Massachusetts Republican headed to D.C. after capturing the seat of the late liberal lion Ted Kennedy.  But despite Brown’s moderate positions and willingness to cross the aisle, Massachusetts’ rising blue tide ultimately proved too much to defeat liberal darling Elizabeth Warren.

The American Voter

The voters’ choice to keep Obama in the White House, combined with GOP control of the House, basically assures four more years of gridlock in Washington.  Nor can Obama claim a mandate, given his difference to actually offering a second-term agenda.

Chris Christie

The New Jersey governor’s election-eve embrace of Obama probably helped his cause in his own state.  But it will complicate any bid for national office.  And Romney’s example shows, his tacking to the right in the GOP primary then back to center in the general election is too much for moderate from the Northeast corridor to survive.