commentaries

I went to vote, then went out to dinner. That's how sure I was that what happened was in fact exactly what I said would happen months ago. Even in the face of all those polls claiming otherwise.

The author seems to have conveniently forgotten about the Bush/Gore presidential election in 2000, in which many networks (and even the Star Tribune) announced incorrect results. The Star Tribune had to go so far as to restart its presses. Since then, the media have gotten much more careful in their reporting.

Clearly, Fox News had no freaking idea what was going to happen. They were completely certain that Romney would get AT LEAST 303 electoral votes. If you still aren't convinced they weren't acting, I would like to invite you to go on YouTube and type in the search box "Fox News Election Night Meltdown 2012" That's pure, unadulterated backtracking and shock on the part of FNC. They had no clue Obama was going to pummel Romney as thoroughly as he did. They were GENUINELY MAD. So mad that the anchors and Karl Rove were questioning the decision of their own decision desk. LOL That was so epic. I loved watching that live.

Election night suspense was fake? Really? How about the week's leading up to the election when all of the news outlets were reporting a neck'n'neck race? A simple check of Electoral-Vote.com or the FiveThirtyEight blog would show that the race was never close. On both sites they have a series of graphs that show the number of Electoral Votes each candidate would likely receive based on the latest polling numbers. At no point did the Blue and Red lines cross. The President was never behind in the Electoral Vote count. The closest Romney ever came was 30EV.

Reporting on exit polls before polls close DOES impact voter turn out. That's why, as the author states, some European countries do not allow reporting on exit polls while polls are still open. The fact that the media does not report on early voting results is a positive thing, despite what the author may suggest.

FYI, Ronald Reagan and the other old time announcers did NOT know the results before hand. They were getting the basic information one pitch at a time from a ticker tape machine and filling in the information and adding sound effects to make things exciting for the fans. The ticker would simply say something like "ball one" and the announcer would say "ball one, high and tight" while slapping a ball into a mitt to mimic the sound of the pitch. The announcers were always just one pitch ahead of the listeners.

Kind of cynical article to me. They shouldn't be projecting the winner until all polls are closed, including on the West Coast. Just because they typically vote blue doesn't mean there can't be a first time. Now, polls leading up to voting day are another thing entirely. It seemed to me that the mainstream media played it up like it was going to be close, just to keep viewers interested. The RW media of course predicted Romney landslide all the way. For two reasons 1) they don't want to piss of their hard core audience 2) to push and rally their troops to get out the vote, making them believe they had a chance. This proves they (Fox) are NOT a news organization, but purely a propaganda machine.

I fell asleep on election night 2000 comfortable that President Gore would end global warming and bring about world peace. I just woke up today, after a 12 year nap. How did that all work out?

Every legitimate poll aggregator had the election going to Obama -- really, anyone with an internet connection could have known it was over before it started on Election Day. Interesting that Kinsley doesn't reference the exit poll debacles of 2000 and 2004 as a reason the networks may be holding back. Fooled them twice...

I have to agree with AirForceGuy. I find it hard to believe that Rove is that good of an actor, that he would willingly and purposefully look that ridiculous on national TV, and that the "anchors" (hard to say that with a straight face about Fox News) were pretending that kind of shock and disappointment. And I agree that it was sooooo satisfying to watch.