Donald Trump's staffing up a pretty traditional, very conservative Republican government, not a populist outsider government, at least not yet.

The winner's margin of victory also matters. If it's a squeaker, that will make the lessons learned for both parties much murkier.

For a long time, many Republicans thought if they just took two aspirin and laid down, [Donald] Trump would go away.

[Donald Trump ] would make history in so many ways because he is a candidate who eschewed the traditional arts of political campaigns, including field organization, traditional advertising, debate preparation and policy knowledge.

The lesson is that voters in both parties are in a very anti-establishment, populist mood. Hillary Clinton is the establishment candidate.

Romney still enjoys the Republicans' traditional advantage among voters who are veterans, but the Obama campaign is confident it can chip away at that.

The Republican Party, right now, is a conservative populist party.