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Well, the election's over, and although some places -- we're looking at you, Florida -- are still trying to confirm who won, another storied chapter of American political drama has now passed into the history books. Before you rush out to start your Christmas shopping, here's a fond look back at the winners and losers of Election 2012.

Winners

Barack Obama: The economy wheezed, and he lost the first debate. But his auto bailout, a big Latino turnout and his breathtakingly proficient ground game -- community organizing! -- brings home the win.

Jerry Brown: With his prestige and legacy on the line, the governor leads come-from-behind win for Proposition 30, whose tax revenues balance the state budget and stave off major cuts to schools.

Big Bird: Mitt Romney had threatened to fricassee federal funding for PBS. But now the big yellow bird, Oscar the Grouch and Elmo live to entertain another day.

Big Soda: You'll have to pry that Mountain Dew from our cold dead fingers. Richmond voters trounce proposed tax on soda and sugary drinks.

Women: The number of female senators jumps to a record 20, female voters outnumber male voters 53 to 47 percent, and Senate candidates in Indiana and Missouri who made offensive statements about rape get trounced.

Hillary Rodham Clinton: If she runs in 2016, as expected, she won't have to beat an incumbent president. Why do you think Bill was yelling himself hoarse in high school gyms the final month?

Potheads: Unfettered marijuana legalization passes in Colorado and Washington state. Crank up the Pink Floyd.

Wind turbines: Key tax credit for renewable energy was toast under Mitt Romney, but now wind, solar and other renewable companies seeking federal love have a new lease on life.

Tom Steyer: San Francisco financier bankrolls Proposition 39, which closes a corporate tax loophole and provides $1 billion a year for general fund and energy-efficiency projects. Up-and-coming Democratic candidate for governor?

Gays and lesbians: Voters pass landmark same-sex marriage measures in Maine, Maryland and Washington, while Tammy Baldwin wins election in Wisconsin, making her the first openly gay U.S. senator.

Nate Silver: New York Times statistician runs complex models, predicts Obama win, takes huge heat and is proved exactly right, calling all 50 states correctly.

San Jose State students: They hatched ballot measure to hike the minimum wage in San Jose from $8 to $10 an hour, and won, despite opposition from Mayor Chuck Reed and the business community.

Losers

Mitt Romney: Republican candidate makes a game effort, but it turns out that letting Detroit go bankrupt might not have been the best strategy for winning votes in Michigan and Ohio.

Nancy Pelosi: A year ago, she had big hopes of Democrats retaking the House of Representatives and regaining the speaker's gavel. But they didn't, and now she may lose her leadership position.

Karl Rove: King GOP strategist takes $390 million in fat cat money, blows it in losing races, and then melts down on Fox News as the results come in live.

The Mungers: Molly and Charles Jr., whose father is Warren Buffett's business partner, dump $80 million into Propositions 38, 30 and 32, losing everything they touch.

Super PAC moguls: Las Vegas casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson spends $53 million; Koch Brothers $33 million and Texas oilman Harold Simmons $24 million to buy futile ads to defeat Obama and Democratic Senate candidates.

Mary Hayashi: Convicted Castro Valley shoplifter, termed out of Assembly, runs for Alameda County supervisor and gets soundly rejected.

Big Coal: Climate change rules are coming out of Obama's Environmental Protection Agency next year. There's a reason coal stocks crashed the morning after the election.

Pete Stark: East Bay voters finally had enough of the cranky, profane, 20-term Democratic congressman, awarding his seat to Eric Swalwell, a 31-year-old Dublin councilman.

Donald Trump: Combed-over billionaire embarrasses himself with claims Obama wasn't born in U.S., then flips out and calls for revolution when the president easily wins re-election.

Tea party: The movement costs Republicans five Senate seats in the past two elections by nominating fringe candidates and pushes GOP to the right on immigration, scaring off Latinos, who deliver Colorado, Nevada and Florida to Obama.

John Muir: San Francisco voters reject measure to fund a study of draining Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite park, long a dream of Sierra Club founder and many Bay Area environmentalists.

Whole Foods: Big natural-food retailer and other organics advocates embrace Proposition 37 to require labeling of genetically modified food but lose amid well-funded opposition and failure to make the case such food is harmful.