Nov. 6, 2012: Alec Baldwin delivers the saddest, yet funniest tweet of the election cycle. 

Besides blaming whichever campaign consultant thought the Eastwood thing was a good idea, Mitt Romney might want to blame two other guys for his loss. When Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin said, "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down," the remark proved problematic, helping to paint the entire GOP as extreme on social issues and out of touch with women voters.

But a remark by GOP Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock arguably proved fatal to the Romney campaign. Just before Election Day, Mourdock said, when asked in a debate about abortion in cases of rape, "I came to realize life is that gift from God, and I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen." Romney had recently endorsed Mourdock and had the bad luck to have filmed an ad for him that had just begun running before Mourdock's gaffe.

On election night, all three men lost, but when it became clear that one of the Senate candidates would definitely lose, liberal actor Alec Baldwin tweeted the following: "You know your party's in trouble when you read this: A: The rape guy lost. B: Which one?" 

Nov. 6-7, 2012: Racist tweets make us wish that Twitter required all users to take an IQ test. 

Not everyone shared Baldwin's sense of humor about the outcome on election night. President Obama's win spawned so many racist tweets that they became the subject of countless articles and resulted in a valuable reminder for many that while the Constitution does protect your freedom of speech, no matter how gross that speech, it doesn't protect you from the fallout from that speech, such as losing your job or facing disciplinary action at school. 

Nov. 6, 2012: A presidential picture is worth a thousand words, and even more retweets. 

The political-victory tweet has become a staple of American politics, right up there with the concession call and victory speech. On election night, candidates usually post words of gratitude to their supporters, but this election, the Obama campaign opted for the power of an image over words. Accompanying a photo of the president embracing his wife were the words, "Four more years." It became the most retweeted image in Twitter history. 

Dec. 14, 2012: The man who gave the world Fox News tweets a surprise. 

Some of the best tweets are those that are completely unfiltered and unexpected. When Rupert Murdoch, the owner and founder of News Corp., which owns Fox News, immediately expressed his support for gun control -- specifically, an assault-weapons ban -- in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., school tragedy, he not only surprised a lot of people but also won some new fans.

"Terrible news today. When will politicians find courage to ban automatic weapons? As in Oz after similar tragedy," he tweeted. He followed up that tweet with another one, imploring the president to take action on the issue, meaning that Murdoch now officially has something in common with progressives. 

Keli Goff is The Root's special correspondent. Follow her on Twitter.

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