[N]ewspapers tend to be published by and for older white people, an increasingly shrinking portion of the population and the electorate. Without new products and services to appeal to next-generation voters, the relevance and influence of newspapers will continue to diminish, too.

– Alan D. Mutter, “Newspaper endorsements: Out of step?”

Blacks cast 13% of the vote and Obama won them 12-1. Latinos cast 10% and Obama carried them by 7-3. Under 30 voters cast 19% of the vote and Obama swept them by 12-7. Single white women cast 18% of the total vote and Obama won them by 12-6.

There is some overlap among these groups, of course, but without allowing for any, Obama won 43-17 before the first married white woman or man over 30 cast their vote. (Lets guess that if we eliminate duplication, the Obama margin would be 35-13) Having conceded these votes, Romney would have had to win over two-thirds of the rest of the vote to win. He almost did. But not quite.

If Romney couldn’t manage this trick against Obama in the current economy, no Republican could.

– Dick Morris, “Why I Was Wrong“

A big-city sports columnist came one day to speak to our journalism class. At the end, there was Q&A, and I had a question: What makes your opinions better than anyone else’s?

His answer was just as blunt: People pay to read my opinions.

I recalled that story the other night over dinner with a college classmate, and I laughed to think that now I’m paid to read other people’s opinions.

(Thirty years later, that columnist is now an Anglican deacon.)