Alan Pergament: Networks stayed cautious but poignance prevailed
Yes, the networks can practice restraint in declaring a presidential election winner.
On Tuesday, it was pretty clear that Sen. Barack Obama was going to be the nation's 44th president by 8 p.m. when ABC and NBC projected the Democratic nominee won Pennsylvania.
At 9:15 p.m., when Fox News was the first to declare Sen. Obama the winner in Ohio, it was just about a slam dunk, because advisors to Republican nominee John McCain had said he needed both states to find a path to the needed 270 Electoral College votes.
However, ABC's Charles Gibson added that the network was not going to declare a winner in the presidential race until one of the nominees had the required 270 electoral votes.
Rather than emphasize how easy it would be for the Illinois senator to win, the networks tried to keep some suspense by focusing on the unlikely ways that Sen. McCain could still win. To their credit, all the networks waited until the polls closed in California at 11 p.m. to immediately state what they knew almost two hours earlier: Sen. Obama was the president-elect.
Incredibly, Channel 4 turned away from its network, CBS, just about the time that anchor Katie Couric was joining all anchors to make the historic declaration that Sen. Obama was the president-elect. In most years, Channel 4's rush to get to local races would have been understandable, but this was history.
Don Paul also was doing the weather when Sen. McCain started his gracious concession speech. It joined it in progress.
Channel 2 also missed by seconds Brian Williams' call at 11 p.m. that Obama had won, but quickly joined NBC's coverage and stayed with it for several minutes.
It was somewhat ironic that Fox News -- considered to be pro-Republican -- was the place that first gave Ohio and Virginia to Sen. Obama. As a rule, CNN was the most cautious to make projections, with CBS a close second.
Sen. Obama was also ahead in Florida when he was projected as the Pennsylvania winner. However, ABC's Gibson added "people project Florida too early at their own peril."
He was referencing the 2000 race won by George Bush over Al Gore when the late Tim Russert used a chalk board to note that the key would be "Florida, Florida, Florida."
At about 8:03 p.m., NBC offered a salute to Russert and his chalk board. Anchor Brian Williams said NBC realized a lot of people miss Russert and his "point of view and enthusiasm."
Tom Brokaw, who has been the moderator of "Meet the Press," added he was going to "fulfill a promise to toast (Russert) at the end of the evening."
Though the night didn't have the suspense that viewers have come to expect in most recent presidential races, it had many poignant, educational and entertaining moments. Here are some of the best moment from one channel-surfer. The times are approximate:
8:50 p.m.: CBS anchor Katie Couric quoted a McCain aide as saying "at this point, we do need a miracle."
"They do indeed," added analyst Bob Schieffer. He quickly turned to discussing Sarah Palin, Sen. McCain's running mate, and the "terrible impression" she made in interviews with Couric.
"Thank you very much," said Couric, apparently believing Schieffer was praising her as much as explaining why Gov. Palin was a drag on the Republican ticket. Then Couric asked analyst Jeff Greenfield if the vice presidential choice made a difference.
"Yes," he said succinctly. "She was Norma Rae for two weeks, then she was somebody else."
9:05 p.m.: After Tom Brokaw reminisced (as had Schieffer earlier) about the clash between protesters and the police in Grant Park in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic Convention and how different the circumstances would be at Obama's rally there, NBC anchor Brian Williams noted that was the night the chant "the whole world is watching" was first spoken.
"Tonight, the expression is true for a different reason," said Williams.
9:10 p.m.: Alex Castellanos, the Republican consultant who is a CNN analyst, had the line of the night when seeing a tight Senate race in Minnesota between Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken, formerly of "Saturday Night Live": "If Republicans can't beat a lunatic like Al Franken, we're in bad shape." That race was still too close to call early this morning.
9:45 p.m.: Tim Pawlenty, the Minnesota governor who was once considered a potential McCain running mate, agreed on ABC that things looked bleak for his candidate and the party. "Republicans are going to go through a Dr. Phil moment."
10:10 p.m.: Castellanos, who could have a standup career, noted that Republicans lost their brand in this election and became big spenders. "If America wants spending, we've got Democrats to do that," he cracked.
10:13 p.m.: Luke Russert came on from Indiana University for a minute to discuss the impact of the youth vote. Tim's son told Williams it was significant in swing states as a crowd of noisy Hoosier students surrounded him.
10:15 p.m. John Lewis, the Georgia congressman and Civil Rights leader, appeared with ABC's Gibson in the first of the moving interviews he did on this historic night.
Lewis discussed the impact that President Lyndon Johnson had in passing the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Lewis said he was sitting next to Dr. Martin Luther King at the time and added tears came down Dr. King's face when he heard LBJ say "we shall overcome" at the bill signing.
"If it hadn't been for Lyndon Johnson and the Voting Rights Act, there would be no Barack Obama as President of the United States," said Lewis.
10:30 p.m.: NBC's Chuck Todd and Brokaw both said the conventional wisdom that Sen. Hillary Clinton's refusal to drop out of the Democratic race more quickly would hurt Sen Obama turned out to be dead wrong. Todd said it helped Obama's campaign organize better in swing states. "I do think that Hillary Clinton made Barack Obama a better national candidate," added Brokaw.
10:50 p.m.: Fox News is the first to project that another former red state, Virginia, was going to Sen. Obama, ending any suspense even before California and its 51 electoral votes came in 10 minutes later.
11 p.m.: The whole world was watching (except maybe viewers of Channels 2 and 4) all the networks declare Sen. Obama the president-elect and the network analysts struggle to find the words to match the powerful pictures of celebration among his supporters.
11:17 p.m. William Bennett, the staunch Republican who is a CNN analyst, said he was thinking of another former politician from Illinois as Sen. Obama prepared to give his victory speech. As he spoke, anchor Anderson Cooper noted that CNN's cameras were focused on Jesse Jackson's face at the Grant Park rally.
"I was thinking of (Abraham) Lincoln, not Jackson," cracked Bennett, proving Republicans may have lost a lot Tuesday night but not their sense of humor.
