But what’s the fallout of the election? We know Republicans have some soul-searching to do, but what happens with Washington? The House is still red. The Senate and White House blue.

Talking to Columbia students Tuesday night on behalf of the Kenneth Cole Foundation, Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, New Jersey discussed love, hope, change, and this generation’s imperative to tackle the hard issues.

You may have heard Romney’s quips and the president’s meager defense that “things are getting better”. It turns out those numbers were wrong.

9 p.m. EST Wednesday night. Grab your popcorn and plop down in front of the television, because I hear the networks are carrying it. The presidential debates. It’s the Super Bowl of electoral politics. And boy am I excited.

Mitt Romney, in being anything but a good candidate, is an example of the American process: that we are not given good candidates—we have to choose them.

It doesn’t feel good to risk your life for a country that won’t pause to show its support. It doesn’t feel good to throw your life in harm’s way, only to hear that if there were another commander-in-chief, things would be different. It doesn’t feel good to be told your tremendous sacrifice is simply some politician’s collateral damage.

The DNC wasn’t about Barack Obama the transformational figure. It was about Barack Obama, the man. While it seems bizarre, I don’t think people knew Barack Obama four years ago. They knew an ideal, not a Democrat.

If campaigns believed that people didn’t start paying attention until after Labor Day, then why have they spent hundreds of millions of dollars on ads until they can’t buy any more T.V. time? Why do they care so much about campaigning if we allegedly do not.

This election just got an upgrade. Ryan will force Romney to talk about the budget, and therefore, it will force the president to talk about the budget.

Think about the outcry for Romney to release his tax returns (the Obama campaign’s widest, and most effective avenue of attack) seen in a totally different light. Romney might still have something to hide, but looking at his record, it seems he just doesn’t like talking about himself.

Mitt Romney can run a campaign by telling Americans about everything they’re missing, and what he would do to fill the void. It is efficient and clear. He sees the problem, and sets out to fix it. His strategy is sensible (notwithstanding the sometimes ironclad rigidity). It follows the mind of a businessman. But the president is more than a jobs plan.

President Obama took on one of the worst crises in American history in one of the most politically polarized periods of American history and made lemonade. He passed historic legislation, he pulled America back from the brink of economic collapse, and he knows how to moonwalk.

Washington can learn from the Massachusetts election. Washington can learn what it means to be civil again. Washington can learn what it means to govern efficiently, not rule with blind ideology. The Massachusetts race has it all.

So to all of the Obama supporters checking Politico every 30 minutes, take a breath. It’s going to be okay. And even if you don’t buy any of these arguments, remember that the average American doesn’t care nearly as much as you do.