Bloomberg Spends $3 Million on TV Ads in Mayoral Race [NYT]
Related: Mayor Mike's New Spanish Language Phrasebook [Cityfile]

Soon-to-be-former Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman has some of the best lawyers dirty money can buy. And one of them just basically admitted that his current strategy is "tie this election up in court forever."

Michael Bloomberg has been speaking a lot of Spanish in recent weeks. He now often ends press conferences with a few Spanish phrases and has been been taking questions from Spanish-speaking reporters, too. Unfortunately, despite nearly six years of one-on-one tutoring sessions, Bloomberg still has trouble spitting out a sentence without making a mistake: When he was asked about the recent snowstorm, for example, he pointed out that the "the streets have cleaned" and "it was a lot of windy." With the mayoral election fast approaching—and considering challengers like William Thompson and Anthony Weiner are taking Spanish classes, too—the mayor is going to have to do a lot better if he expects to win over the city's Latino population. And he's going to have to do more than simply chat about the weather; he's going to have to connect with voters on a much more personal level and demonstrate he understands their culture and concerns. To that end, we turned to our in-house translator to put together a few phrases that the mayor might want to memorize as he meets voters over the next few months. ¡Buena suerte, Señor Bloomberg!

Michael Steele was famous being the highest-ranking elected Black Republican in the country, when he was the Lieutenant Governor of Maryland. Then he lost a Senate race. Now he is in charge of the Republican Party!

Two months ago, New York magazine staffers were emailing friends seeking ideas about New things for the "All New" issue. Now that issue is here! It's just as totally contrived as you would expect.

Time to give out the award to the first world leader who came up with something quasi-racist about Barack Obama following his victory on Tuesday. Italy's Silvio Berlusconi described the President-elect as "young, handsome and tanned" at a news conference today. (Of course, Sarah Palin had some color in her cheeks, too, but that was for other reasons.) By Berlusconi standards, this is pretty mild stuff. This is the same guy who turned up at the New York Stock Exchange and suggested Americans consider investing in Italy because "the secretaries are beautiful." Video of his remarks (in Italian) after the jump. [Guardian]

Sarah Palin says she plans to return the six-figure wardrobe that got her into so much trouble in the run-up to the election. But she's already had to part ways with another campaign perk: the plane that jetted her around the country over the past couple of months. The Embraer E190 that the McCain campaign leased from JetBlue to fly the Wasilla hillbillies from place to place touched down in Anchorage yesterday to deposit the governor in her home state. It's now on its way back to New York where it will be stripped of its McCain/Palin logo and rejoin JetBlue's fleet of jets based at JFK. At least now there's a very good explanation if you happen to come across a Neiman Marcus shopping bag stuffed under your seat.

Yesterday's gigantic New York Times headline—"OBAMA"—was only the fourth time in history that the newspaper has used the 96-point type. (The others, in case you're curious: "MEN WALK ON MOON," "NIXON RESIGNS," and "U.S. ATTACKED.") Also: Copies of the paper are now going for as much as $100 on Ebay. [E&P via kottke]

French president Nicolas Sarkozy on the results of the U.S. election: "Obama is my buddy... I never believed Hillary Clinton would win." [Der Spiegel]

The list of election '08 losers is a long one: There's John McCain, of course, who will die angry and bitter, notwithstanding his rather gracious concession speech last night. Steve Schmidt, McCain's chief strategist, will probably have trouble finding a Little League team to advise, unless he manages to redeem himself somehow. From Republicans on the Hill to GOP strategists to snowmobile and hunting enthusiasts, plenty of people will feel the cold wind of electoral defeat for a long time to come. After the jump, a roundup of New York City's nine biggest losers.

Diddy on the election last night: "I felt like my vote was the vote that put him into office." Also, he says he felt like Martin Luther King when he stepped into the voting booth yesterday. [AP]

The Mayflower in Washington has quite the offer for anyone interested in going to D.C. for Barack Obama's inauguration. The "Ultimate Presidential" package includes a three-night stay, limo service, "his and hers inaugural jewelry," Dom Perignon champagne, in-room massages for two, 24-hour butler service, and his and hers "inaugural garb" from Burberry ("to keep special guests warm during the inaugural ceremony"). And it's only $51,000. What a steal! As for whether you'll be staying in the same room where Eliot Spitzer shared some special time with Ashley Dupre, you'll have to call and ask. [HotelChatter]

♦ ABC appears to generated the highest ratings as the election results rolled in last night. NBC came in second and CNN ranked third. [TV Decoder]
♦ Time is rushing to produce a commemorative issue of the mag by the end of the week. [HuffPo]
♦ Both People and Us Weekly will feature Obama on the covers of the next issue. [NYP]
♦ Can The Daily Show survive an Obama presidency? and how will other media outlets deal with the post-election dropoff? [Politico, AdAge]
♦ An explanation of that holography thingie on CNN last night. [YouTube]

If you haven't picked up a copy of the Times today, don't bother. Vendors across the city report they sold out this morning as people snatched up multiple copies to keep as collector items. Let the Ebay sales begin! [City Room]

Feeling a bit blue this afternoon? Perhaps a little anxious or depressed, even though the presidential candidate you supported ended up winning? You're not alone. Psychologists are predicting that many people "will find a hole in their lives and time on their hands" now that the election is over and they no longer have a reason to spend hours every day monitoring political coverage on TV and obsessing over the latest poll numbers. It's not unlike what little kids experience the day after Christmas, or what happens when a junkie stops taking drugs, expert say. (Well, except for the fact you're not going to be spending the next three days vomiting into a plastic bucket.) So what's an Obama-obsessed New Yorker to do?

John McCain and Sarah Palin may have lost last night, but there is still plenty of work for Republican strategists to do. Like shift the blame for McCain's embarrassing defeat! There is lots of blame to go around, of course, and the finger-pointing will likely go on for weeks and months (years?) as the GOP struggles to come to terms with the loss. But watching Sarah Palin get pummeled by anonymous GOP insiders and get handed the blame for everything that went wrong in the final weeks of the campaign will certainly be the most entertaining thing to watch. Several former "top advisers" to John McCain, for example, are now speaking with Newsweek about Sarah Palin's spending spree, and they now say her shopping expeditions were actually even more outrageous than previously reported. (Naturally, they go on to share just how upset the McCain team was by her "outrageous profligacy.")

For screenshots from major websites, see here and here. [via kottke]

After the jump, video of the crowd in Grant Park reacting to the news.

Barack Obama has been elected the 44th president of the United States! [CNN]