analysis of election

A new study on Prop. 8 voting trends found that far fewer African Americans voted to pass the gay marriage ban than the 70% suggested by exit polling.

In the week after Barack Obama's historic victory, gays and lesbians are pondering another historic, albeit less victorious, moment of their own. Three anti-gay marriage propositions passed -- in Florida, Arizona, and California. In Arkansas gay people were barred from adopting children. Now the real fight begins.

Hillary Rodham Clinton kept her White House hopes alive for a few more weeks, if not months, defeating rival Barack Obama by 10 points in Pennsylvania's crucial primary and stamping out speculation that she would exit the increasingly divisive Democratic presidential race. The victory, however, did little to narrow her deficit in the all-important delegate count. Clinton, bidding to be the first woman U.S. president, overcame massive spending by Obama, who had significantly cut the New York senator's early overwhelming advantage in the state. But after a rugged and caustic six-week campaign, voting blocs who favored Clinton -- older, working-class, less-educated Pennsylvanians -- stood fast behind her.