DOOMED BY DEMOGRAPHICS: Mike Murphy says that thing that a lot of people have been saying, which is that Republicans are screwed forever if they cannot figure out how to get Latinos and young people to vote for them. But also this: “Waiting and hoping didn’t do much for the Whigs.” (Whigs were never very popular with the Latinos, either.) [TIME]

Oh well here is a shocker: Nobody in California had the time, inclination, or detailed budgetary expertise to make a good ruling on the many ballot measures up for approval yesterday, so instead they voted “no” on everything except a legislative salary freeze and then they went to In-n-Out Burger for a double double. MORE »

NATION OF UNDERWATER HOMEOWNERS: According to some estimates, about 20 percent of people with mortgages owe more on their homes than what they’re actually worth. Your mileage may vary depending on whether there are a lot of foreclosures in your area, because fire-sale pricing will naturally depress surrounding home values even more than just a gradual dropoff in the sales price of non-foreclosed homes. Also, owing 105% of your house’s value is a hell of a lot better than owing, say, 200%, but both count as “underwater.” The bottom line is this: if you own real estate of any sort, you are DOOMED, forever, to an eternity of anal invasion by Mortgage Demons bearing poison-tipped pitchforks. [Wall Street Journal]

Money and numbers dorks are all excited this morning, speculating about who Barack Obama might select for the most thankless job in America. Will it be Larry Summers, again? Your editor would kind of like to see the very competent FDIC chairman and level-headed Kansan Sheila Bair get the post, but that’s mostly because Bair was so great on Charlie Rose that one time and Warren Buffett likes her. [Bloomberg]