So obviously, the election was the big news this week. President Obama is back, and so is a still divided Congress. Plus, there were lots of interesting ballot measures—on everything from performance pay and charter expansion to increasing taxes to pay for schools.

Here’s five election postmortems you should check out:

• The biggest surprise of the night for education folks was Tony Bennett’s loss in Indiana. Was it his support for the common core? Or very good organizing on the part of the state teachers’ union? Both? The Indianapolis Star‘s awesome education reporter, Scott Elliott, tells you what went down. (Spoiler: He doesn’t think Bennett’s embrace of common core was the problem.)

• Speaking of Bennett’s loss in a deeply red state, plus the defeat of teacher-oriented ballot measures in Idaho and South Dakota, it was a pretty tough night for Republicans who share Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s priorities. That has Mike Petrilli wondering whether it’s time to start a Republicans for Education Reform.

• “Republican on Republican violence” was also a theme of Eduwonk’s wrap-up, which also looked at wins and losses for teachers’ unions.

• Does the same configuration on Capitol Hill and in the White House mean at least two more years of gridlock? Rick Hess thinks that’s probably the case.

• Politico thinks that if Secretary of Education Arne Duncan steps down, which he has said he will not, Michelle Rhee could be Obama’s secretary of education. Really?