Veterans Day 2006

While I've never supported the war, I have always supported our men and women who voluntarily give their lives for service to our country. As our troops return home from this latest conflict, let all of us remember to extend a hand, thank them for their service and make sure that our government provides for them as they should. For those who've been mentally or physically wounded, these wounds heal slowly, but the scars and memories will last a lifetime. And... for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, we thank you and your families for your commitment and dedication.

November 11, or what has come to be known as Veterans Day, was originally set as a U.S. legal holiday to honor Armistice Day - the end of World War I, which officially took place on November 11, 1918. In legislature that was passed in 1938, November 11 was "dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be hereafter celebrated and known as 'Armistice Day.' As such, this new legal holiday honored World War I veterans.

In 1954, after having been through both World War II and the Korean War, the 83rd U.S. Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, amended the Act of1938 by striking out the word "Armistice" and inserting the word "Veterans." With the approval of this legislation on June 1, 1954, November 11 became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.

In 1968, the Uniforms Holiday Bill ensured three-day weekends for Federal employees by celebrating four national holidays on Mondays: Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Columbus Day. Under this bill, Veterans Day was moved to the last Monday of October. Many states did not agree with this decision and continued to celebrate the holiday on its original date. The first Veterans Day under the new law was observed with much confusion on October 25, 1971.

Finally on September 20, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signed a law which returned the annual observance of Veterans Day to its original date of November 11, beginning in 1978. Since then, the Veterans Day holiday has been observed on November 11.

Thanks to this soldiers blog for his photo with Cooper while broadcasting from a forward operating base in Kabul, Afghanistan in September 2006.

The Shot

Thanks, Marie!

Anderson Cooper' s Tribute to Ed Bradley

As always, Thanks To Marie!

I Fell Asleep on Anderson Cooper

Let's face it...it has been one hell of a busy week! I was so tired that I fell asleep a half hour into "AC360" last night. So, I've posted a couple of screencaps in case anyone else missed the show as well...



AC360 is also airing a "special" tonight on the Christian conservatives and what's next for them, so with all the on-air time Cooper saw this week, I anticipate that only the first hour will be live. Cooper will also be lecturing in Buafflo tomorrow evening and don't forget his first piece for "60 Minutes" will air this Sunday night, and yes, it's about Kenny Chesney. I still haven't figured THAT one out.

Also, here are a few facts that have been released about CNN.com and their site traffic as America Votes 2006. Overall, CNN did a great job.

- CNN.com was #1 in share of online newsviewing on Election Day 2006. 74.3 Million minutes were spent on CNN.com, the most of any news site. This is 21% of all the time spent on news sites that day, nearly double the 12% spent on #2 Yahoo! News (44.7 Million minutes).

- CNN.com was #1 in page views. 112.6 Million Pages were Viewed on CNN.com on Election Day, three times as many as #2 Yahoo! News (43.7 Million).

- CNN.com attracted 6.8 Million Unique Users on Election Day, overall (second to Yahoo! News’ 7.4 Million. MSNBC.com was third) CNN.com attracted 4.2 Million Unique Users from Work, #1 among news sites. in Uniques, Page Views.

Everyone have an awesome Friday!

Screencaps courtesy of liberation337.

BREAKING NEWS: Ed Bradley Dies

Today we learned that a remarkable journalist has died. I was actually at 60 Minutes in the middle of a screening when they got the call that Ed Bradley had died from leukemia.

I didn't know Ed personally. We'd only met once in passing, but I think all of us who watched him on 60 Minutes feel like we knew him.

He was a trailblazer who started working for CBS in Paris in 1971. He then went to Vietnam and also covered the war in Cambodia. I remember watching some of his old reports when CBS re-aired them on their short-lived cable channel. He always got close to the action and, in fact, was wounded in Cambodia by a mortar round.

Ed Bradley had been at 60 Minutes for 25 years, and it's hard to imagine the program without him. He was a scrupulously honest reporter, and always seemed to be a truly decent man.

He listened to those he interviewed, and the conversations were real. I recently saw the piece he did with producer John Hamlin profiling Muhammad Ali. There is a great moment when Ali pretends to fall asleep at a meal and then surprises Ed. The whole table breaks out laughing, and watching at home it was hard not to laugh along with them.

It is hard to believe Ed Bradley is gone.

Posted By Anderson Cooper: 12:25 PM ET

New Anderson Cooper Interview

CNN's Cooper happy to share his view of the world

Anderson Cooper, who always seems to be searching for a disaster, probably should have been in Buffalo a few weeks ago for the October Surprise.

But better late than never.

Fresh from Tuesday night's election coverage, the CNN anchor of the 10 p.m. weeknight program with the high-tech name, "Anderson Cooper 360," is scheduled to be at the University at Buffalo at 8 p.m. Saturday as part of its Distinguished Speaker's program.

Cooper has distinguished himself covering hurricanes, elections, wars, famines and tsunamis. His work has added to a resume that already was full enough for him to write a best-selling book, "Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters and Survival," before he turned 40.

The 39-year-old son of heiress and famed designer Gloria Vanderbilt, Cooper has already had multiple careers as a child model, reality show host and newsman.

A very busy man, the Yale graduate paused for about 15 minutes to discuss his views of the news business and less serious subjects like his prematurely gray hair, his modeling career and his CNN colleague, Wolf Blitzer.

How many colleges do you speak at, and why did you decide to take this gig?

"I don't speak that often. It's hard for me to come up with a date and be able to stick to it. Often I end up canceling. But I really like speaking at colleges and universities so I thought I'd do it."

Have you talked to Wolf Blitzer at all about Buffalo?

"I haven't yet. But we're going to be together a lot on election week so he'll give me the scoop during commercial breaks or something."

How would you describe the differences between the way you and Blitzer approach things?

"He's a little bit more gray all over. He's got the beard going. I'm not quite that gray yet. I think we're both similar in that neither of us believes in wearing politics on our sleeve and (in) very much trying to just pursue facts and pursue information and talk to people of all sides and all different political beliefs and get people's opinions."

A lot of people would say you are more of a crusader.

"Given the bulk of stuff I do, I'm not advocating any cause. At times, I'm aggressive in trying to pursue facts and pursue stories in terms of shining a light on some places maybe that some people don't necessarily know about or haven't paid attention to. I was just in the Congo and Africa and Afghanistan. I'm a big believer in going to places and ... seeing what's happening and sending back reports about it. I think maybe that's what some people are referring to."

I was thinking of your coverage of Katrina.

"I think I was an advocate certainly for getting answers as to why relief efforts were as lacking as they were. I was certainly an advocate for informing people about what was going on and what I was seeing and what all of us were seeing and what people were experiencing. I don't have a particular strategy or political argument that I'm trying to make about an issue."

What do you think of the "Saturday Night Live" parody of you?

"I think it's very funny. The first time I saw it I was completely surprised by it and (it was a little) surreal. I'm a big believer in mocking myself or ... people poking fun at you."

What was your view of the controversy revolving around CNN's decision to carry a video on your program of insurgents in Iraq targeting U.S. military personnel?

"I certainly understand people's concern. This came about after a lengthy debate among all of us at CNN. I think there is a misconception. I think a lot of people who had opinions about it didn't actually see it and just sort of heard about it fourth hand. We did not show any American soldiers being killed. And no soldiers were identifiable. What this was, was a story about the increasing danger to U.S. troops of sniper attacks by insurgents."

Has anyone actually confused Anderson Cooper 360 with ESPN 360?

"There's like an Xbox 360 and I think ... there are a couple of 360s out there. I like to think we were the first. ... When the show started we were tossing around different ideas and someone suggested that, and I didn't have a better idea and we went with it."

Was "The Mole," the ABC reality show you hosted in 2000, a good or bad thing for your career?

"I had been doing news for like 10 years. I was working at ABC doing an overnight show and also worked at "20-20' and I really wanted a break from news. It was an interesting experience. Reality TV was in its infancy. But once 9/11 happened I wanted to get back into news and I was happy I was able to."

Many people consider you a celebrity anchor. Do you tire of the title?

"There are plenty of people in news who are far more well-known that I am. I have a nightly newscast. Beyond that, I don't know what it means."

Is the gray hair an asset in your business at your age?

"I find it odd that I have gray hair. ... It wouldn't be my choice."

Do you remember anything about being a child model?

"Not all that much. I remember wanting to do it because I was 11 years old and I wanted to earn money. And there are not many jobs an 11-year-old can get. So that was the job I was able to get."

Do you get tired at all of answering questions about your famous mother?

(He laughs.) "No. She's my mom, what can I do?"

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20061109/1064432.asp

Inside the "News War"

PBS' Frontline is putting the finishing touches on "News War," a three-part, four-hour special that examines the "political, cultural, legal and economic forces" impacting the news media and free press. The series slated to air in January.

The "war" part may come during the third hour (Jan. 16), when Frontline takes viewers inside the L.A. Times during this summer's "epic battle over the future of news," pitting the paper's reporters and editors against the corporate owners at the Tribune Co. Former L.A. Times editor John Carroll calls it "a crisis of the soul" — the one that is taking place throughout the country between edit desks and executives bowing to the demands of Wall Street.

As you might've noticed, this war is not relegated to newspapers.

America Votes: CNN is the Winner (Kinda)

A note before you read the following article...CNN did win the Total Day and Prime Time demo for it's election night coverage. In other words, they kicked butt!

ABC News' 90-minute coverage of the midterm elections Tuesday night cruised to a dominating win for Charles Gibson on his time anchoring election coverage as the network's flagship anchor. NBC News' Brian Williams was relegated to second place, and CBS News' Katie Couric placed third, according to data from Nielsen Media Research.

On the cable news front, national Nielsen data from for 8 to 11 p.m. Tuesday shows CNN finishing a mere 89,000 viewers behind first-place Fox News Channel, and MSNBC nearly breaking 2 million viewers for the night.

"Dancing With the Stars," down to three contestant pairs, gave Mr. Gibson a good jump on the competition, as did a half-hour head start. ABC averaged 9.67 million viewers for its hour and a half, according to national data from Nielsen. NBC's crew, which included Mr. Williams' predecessor, Tom Brokaw, averaged 7 million viewers from 10 to 11 p.m.

CBS News did not have national data available, but released fast affiliate ratings, which are all but certain to change when the network receives its national ratings Thursday. The fast affiliate numbers show the CBS election special, which included Ms. Couric's predecessor, Bob Schieffer, averaging 7.08 million viewers, close behind NBC's 7.19 million viewers and both well behind ABC's 10.05 million viewers.

"We're happy," a CBS News spokesperson said. "It was a very competitive night."

Meanwhile, Fox News Channel averaged 3.06 million viewers, 96 percent higher than its October prime-time average and up 12 percent from the 2002 midterm election night. CNN racked up 2.97 million viewers, up 270 percent compared with October and up 21 percent from 2002. MSNBC averaged nearly 2 million viewers, up a whopping 325 percent from last month and 107 percent from 2002. (TVWeek)

Thanks to Stillife for the screencap.

Its official: THEY ARE OUT! Dems complete election sweep of Congress

By LIZ SIDOTI 6 minutes ago
Associated Press
Democrats completed an improbable double-barreled election sweep of Congress on Wednesday, taking control of the Senate with a victory in Virginia as they padded their day-old majority in the House.
Jim Webb's victory over Sen. George Allen (news, bio, voting record) in Virginia assured Democrats of 51 seats when the Senate convenes in January. That marked a gain of six in midterm elections in which the war in Iraq and President Bush were major issues.
Earlier, State Sen. Jon Tester triumphed over Republican Sen. Conrad Burns (news, bio, voting record) in a long, late count in Montana.
With a handful of House races too close to call, Democrats had gained 28 seats, enough to regain the majority after 12 years of Republican rule and place Rep. Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record) of California in line to become the first female speaker in history.
"It was a thumping," Bush conceded at the White House. "It's clear the Democrat Party had a good night."
Allen's campaign issued a statement noting that state officials are conducting a canvass of the votes cast in Tuesday's balloting.
"At the conclusion of those efforts, Senator George Allen plans to make a statement regarding the outcome," it said.
The Senate had teetered at 50 Democrats, 49 Republicans for most of Wednesday, with Virginia hanging in the balance. The Democratic total includes two independents, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who vote with the party. Webb's victory ended Republican hopes of eking out a 50-50 split, with Vice President Dick Cheney wielding tie-breaking authority.
The Associated Press contacted election officials in all 134 localities where voting occurred, obtaining updated numbers Wednesday. About half the localities said they had completed their postelection canvassing and nearly all had counted outstanding absentees. Most were expected to be finished by Friday.
The new AP count showed Webb with 1,172,538 votes and Allen with 1,165,302, a difference of 7,236. Virginia has had two statewide vote recounts in modern history, but both resulted in vote changes of no more than a few hundred votes.
It had been clear for weeks leading up to the election that Democrats were strongly positioned to challenge Republicans for House control.
But Democrats began the year with fewer seats than at any time since Herbert Hoover occupied the White House. Even the party leader, Sen. Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) of Nevada, mused aloud at one point that it might take a miracle to capture Senate control.
Webb's win capped a banner election year for Democrats, who benefited from the voters' desire issue a searing rebuke of the status quo.
The president, who spoke of spending his political capital after his successful re-election two years ago, acknowledged, "As the head of the Republican Party, I share a large part of the responsibility."
With power on Capitol Hill tilting, Bush faced the reality of at least half of Congress in the opposition's hands for the final two years of his presidency. He announced that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld would step down as Democrats have demanded.
The war in Iraq, scandals in Congress and declining support for Bush and Republicans on Capitol Hill defined the battle for House and Senate control, with the public embracing the Democrats' call for change to end a decade of one-party rule in Washington.
"This new Democratic majority has heard the voices of the American people," said Pelosi, the California Democrat in line to become the nation's first female House speaker, adding that Americans placed their trust in Democrats. "We will honor that trust. We will not disappoint."
With the GOP booted from power, lame-duck Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., announced he will not run for leader of House Republicans when Democrats take control in January.
"Obviously I wish my party had won," Hastert said in a statement that added he intends to return to the "full-time task" of representing his Illinois constituents.

World Reacts to Democratic Win

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- The seismic shift that midterm elections brought to Washington's political landscape was welcomed by many Wednesday in a world sharply opposed to the war in Iraq and outraged over the harsh methods the Bush administration has employed in fighting terrorism.

From Paris to Pakistan, politicians, analysts and ordinary citizens said they hoped the Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives would force President Bush to adopt a more conciliatory approach to the globe's laundry list of crises, and teach a president many see as a "cowboy" a lesson in humility.

But some also expressed fears that a split in power and a lame-duck president might stall global trade talks and weaken much-needed American influence.

On Iraq, some feared that Democrats will force a too-rapid retreat, leaving that country and the region in chaos. Others said they doubted the turnover in Congressional power would have a dramatic impact on Iraq policy any time soon, largely because the Democrats have yet to define the specifics of the course they want to take.

The U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, said American policy would not dramatically change, despite the Democratic election success.

"The president is the architect of U.S. foreign policy," the ambassador said in a videotape distributed by the U.S. Embassy. "He is the commander in chief of our armed forces. He understands what is at stake in Iraq."

Read the rest of the article here.
*****

Do you think the Democrats will begin withdrawing troops soon? What kinds of changes will the Democrat takeover and the resignation of Rumsfeld bring to Iraq policy? What do you think about the Senate races and the refusal of Montana Senator Conrad Burns to concede the election to the Democratic challenger Jon Tester? Do you think there will be a recount in Virginia?

What factors played into the Democratic win, in your opinion?

Behind the scenes on Election Night at CNN

A couple of shots from behind the scenes last night...the top photo is just a portion of one desk in the control room. Recognize the guy on the monitor? I thought you would...

This is the briefing on the set at the CNN studios in NY last night, right before their election coverage began. John King front and center next to none other than Jon Klein, the Big Dog of CNN.

GOP says Rumsfeld is stepping down

Associated Press
6 minutes ago

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, architect of an unpopular war in Iraq, intends to resign after six stormy years at the Pentagon, Republican officials said Wednesday.

Word came a day after the Democratic gains in the election, in which Rumsfeld was a focus of much of the criticism of the Iraq war. Officials said Robert Gates, former head of the CIA, would replace Rumsfeld.

Earlier today, a spokesman for Rumsfeld said he'd given no indication that he would step down in the wake of Democratic election gains. The spokesman said Rumsfeld would work with Congress on Iraq but added that the focus on stabilizing the country will remain the same.

The Best Political Team in Town...

"A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt... If the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at stake." Thomas Jefferson

I think this screencap sums up the results of the evening! Poor Dubya....NOT!!!

Thank God it's over...almost. I'm exhausted and stayed up well into the wee hours of the morning watching the results come in and Wolf Blitzer making his dramatic projections. And hopefully after today...we can get back to regular programming. A few of us posted yesterday how there are other stories, other issues that need to be focused on...and Anderson needs to get back to "Keeping Them Honest."

Here is the latest results...bound to change again this afternoon as ballots are still be counted and in some states, recounted.



What did you think of the coverage last night? Did you watch any other channel besides CNN?

Anderson Cooper Wants YOU!!...(to vote)

Their is an old joke that applies today..."Vote now and vote often!" Seriously, be part of the change and make sure you vote!

Thanks to Cooper Watch 360 for the graphic and screencap!

Republicans Cut Democratic Lead in Campaign's Final Days

Democrats Hold 47%-43% Lead Among Likely Voters
November 5, 2006

A nationwide Pew Research Center survey finds voting intentions shifting in the direction of Republican congressional candidates in the final days of the 2006 midterm campaign. The new survey finds a growing percentage of likely voters saying they will vote for GOP candidates. However, the Democrats still hold a 48% to 40% lead among registered voters, and a modest lead of 47%-43% among likely voters.
The narrowing of the Democratic lead raises questions about whether the party will win a large enough share of the popular vote to recapture control of the House of Representatives. The relationship between a party's share of the popular vote and the number of seats it wins is less certain than it once was, in large part because of the increasing prevalence of safe seat redistricting. As a result, forecasting seat gains from national surveys has become more difficult.
The survey suggests that the judgment of undecided voters will be crucial to the outcome of many congressional races this year. As many as 19% of voters now only lean to a candidate or are flatly undecided. The Democrats hold a 44% to 35% lead among committed voters. But the race is more even among voters who are less strongly committed to a candidate; those who only lean to a candidate divide almost evenly between Republicans and Democrats (5% lean Republican/4% lean Democrat).
Republican gains in the new poll reflect a number of late-breaking trends. First, Republicans have become more engaged and enthused in the election than they had been in September and October. While Democrats continue to express greater enthusiasm about voting than do Republicans, as many Republican voters (64%) as Democratic voters (62%) now say they are giving quite a lot of thought to the election. About a month ago, Democratic voters were considerably more likely than GOP voters to say they were giving a lot of thought to the election (by 59%-50%). As a result, Republicans now register a greater likelihood of voting than do Democrats, as is typical in mid-term elections.
The Republicans also have made major gains, in a relatively short time period, among independent voters. Since early this year, the Democratic advantage in the generic House ballot has been built largely on a solid lead among independents. As recently as mid-October, 47% of independent voters said they were voting for the Democratic candidate in their district, compared with 29% who favored the Republican. Currently, Democrats lead by 44%-33% among independent voters.

Democrats and Republicans See Different Realities

Profiling the Voters
Pew Research Center for the People & the PressNovember 6, 2006

The vast divide between voters who intend to vote Democratic and Republican tomorrow extends well beyond matters of opinion. These voters also see the world quite differently. For the vast majority of Republican voters -- 70% -- the state of the economy is doing well; most Democratic voters (74%) say the economy is doing only fair or poorly. Despite the rising American death toll in Iraq, 61% of GOP voters say things there are going at least fairly well. Eight-in-ten Democratic voters (81%) disagree.
A profile of voters in Tuesday's elections, based on interviews with 2,369 voters conducted Nov. 1-4, shows that the situation in Iraq is the leading issue in the midterm election. But many more voters who say they will vote for a Democratic candidate rate Iraq as a top issue than do GOP voters (by 60% to 37%). No single issue dominates the concerns of Republican voters: 42% of those who say they will vote for a Republican cite terrorism as a top issue; 41% cite the economy; and 37% mention the situation in Iraq.
The profile shows that gay marriage divides Democratic voters, while Republicans are split over stem cell research. It also finds that while 53% of Democratic voters describe themselves as "civil liberties advocates" just a third of Republican voters say that phrase accurately describes them.
Congressional Vote and Issue Preferences
Among Registered Voters
Question: If the 2006 elections for U.S. Congress were being held TODAY, would you vote for the Democratic Party's candidate or the Republican Party's candidate for Congress in your district? As of TODAY, do you LEAN more to the Democrat or the Republican?

Data Note: Figures may not add to 100 percent due to rounding.

In Unrelated Anderson Cooper News Today...

I know, I know...we all love the Cooper. But to tell the truth, since ol'Andy hasn't been a barrel of fun lately and since we won't make up stories about him on FreakSpeakers (even though that can be hours of fun!) we bring you these tidbits instead from the usual sources. And don't get all in a twitter you AnderBloggers, I wasn't picking on any one site in particular, but we all know the sites that love the Anderson fodder....

Midterms: Rather, Stewart, & Colbert

"Former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather, whose colorful Dan-isms attained collectible status over his four decades of covering politics at CBS News, won't be sitting out this midterm election night. He'll sit in during the first half-hour of Comedy Central's hour of election coverage featuring The Daily Show's Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report's Stephen Colbert," TV Week reports.

"Titled Indecision 2006: The Midterm Midtacular, the show, which will be live at 11 p.m. on the East Coast and tape-delayed on the West Coast, will be, Comedy Central has promised, 'unburdened by objectivity or even accuracy..'"

Will News Corp. Buy Newsday?

News Corp. won't comment, but the Rupert Murdoch-owned mega-company, which owns the Post, is rumored to be a potential bidder for Tribune Co.-owned Newsday. Last week, Tribune Co. quietly said all of its properties, including the Los Angeles Times, could be sold individually.

According to Newsday, developer Robert Toussie has expressed interest in buying the paper — which analysts quoted by Newsday put the price tag at anywhere from $472.2 million to $674.6 million to more than $1 billion.

Great...it'll be like Fox News in a magazine format.





Williams Tops Couric; Couric Wets Feet

Maybe it's the impeccable (really) comedic timing. Maybe it's his willingness to diss the Daily Show. Maybe its his friendship with Bono, who has been known to deface a lightbox or two at NBC to prove it. Maybe it's his towering billboard. Maybe it's his blog. Whatever it is, it's working: Brian Williams and NBC Nightly News are #1. And it seems NBC is determined to highlight that fact during its midterm election coverage.

So it would only be natural for Katie Couric, in her first election as the anchor of CBS Evening News, to be feisty, to want to scratch and claw at any and all rivals who, despite her years covering big news events at the Today Show, say she's just getting her feet wet.

Says Couric:

"It's my first time in this position, so I just think it's a great way to get my feet wet."

Will she even be on CBS for the 2008 elections? Maybe Cooper will have a new home by then...

CNN Offers Up Pipeline Free of Charge on Monday 11/6

CNN.com will offer broadband Internet users worldwide free access to CNN Pipeline, its commercial-free on-demand video news service, on Monday, Nov. 6 in advance of Election Day.

It will be a hard week for Anderson Cooper, CNN and most media outlets

Political pressure mounts on decision desks

By Paul J. Gough
Nov 6, 2006

A handful of men and women will gather at each network's headquarters Tuesday for their biennial all-nighter.The stars of election coverage don't have the name recognition of Katie, Brian or Charlie. Most are consultants, with expertise in such fields as political science or statistics who only work for the networks during the election. Viewers rarely see them on the air, but they form the backbone of the night's coverage. What they do is a fast-paced, high-pressure mix of math, computer modeling, political science, memory and sheer gut instinct that leads networks to call winners and losers.

The stakes are high. No one wants a repeat of 2000, when networks prematurely called Florida for Al Gore before having to retract.And the networks -- and the National Election Pool, a consortium that provides exit-poll results -- don't want a repeat of 2004, either, when early polls leaked on Web sites seemed to give John Kerry the lead over President Bush.

"It's pretty stressful. It's the kind of thing that very few jobs have, where you have to be right 100% of the time," said Sheldon Gawiser, who runs NBC News' decision desk."You don't want to go on (with predictions) and be wrong, but you don't want to be slow, either," said CBS News senior vp Linda Mason, who ultimately decides whether her network's decision desk verdict goes on the air. "It's a funny mix."

The decision desks' work goes on mostly without interference from on-air or behind-the-scenes personnel. There are elaborate double- and triple-checking processes, but no network allows pressure on the decision desk to speed up its work."After 2000, there's been a realization to just let the analysts do their job," said Dan Merkle, who runs ABC's decision desk.

"We have a policy at NBC that nobody is to pressure me on anything and I don't know what calls are made by other networks," Gawiser said. "We try to do the best job we can. We call it whenever we call it, when we are as sure as we can be."Unlike 2004, when the Bush-Kerry race took precedence, there are hundreds of races nationwide that the networks will monitor to see which party has won control of the House and Senate. There are 435 House and 33 Senate seats up for grabs Tuesday and a number of gubernatorial races. That in itself would be a daunting task because there are about 50 races where the rubber will meet the road and with no exit polls for House races.

"House races are historically difficult to look at because you don't do exit polls on congressional districts," said Marty Ryan, executive producer of political coverage at Fox News.But it's complicated even further by new voting machines and methods in an estimated 60% of the country, which could either speed or (more likely) slow the speed of results from the local level to the Associated Press, which tabulates them and sends them out to the networks. The AP real-time election results are paired with exit polls in the races where they exist to help the networks call elections.

"I can't remember an election where there has been such a great wholesale change of voting technology," CNN political director Keating Holland said.And that is what Gawiser calls the "greatest concern" going into election night."We have so many counties with new equipment, vote-counting equipment; we're going to have problems in places," he said. "If you can't trust the votes that are counted coming into our models, it's very difficult to go out on a limb and make a prediction. We're going to be cautious, as we always are, but it's just going to be a real potential problem not knowing."Mason agrees."We don't know how it's going to work," she said of Election Day. "We don't know how long it's going to take."

A change this year is new restrictions on the exit-polling results that came about after 2004. Instead of getting a "first wave" of exit polls at 1 p.m. EST, the networks will have to wait for all three waves until 5 p.m. EST before the full decision desks get their hands on them. Each network will have two representatives in a so-called quarantine room with access to the results, but they won't be able to contact New York until 5 p.m. That means there are only two hours between receiving exit poll results and when the first polls themselves close."It'll be a challenge," said ABC's Merkle, though he adds that the early exit-polling data needed to be taken with a grain of salt anyway. "You don't want to go to town based on a third of a poll."CNN's Holland agrees."I always think it's a scoreboard in a baseball game or a football game," he said. "If you see in the third inning that a team is off by five runs, does that mean that they're not going to win? Maybe, maybe not."Several networks, including CBS and Fox News, aren't just relying on the traditional streams of data.

Fox News will conduct its own polls in seven states to get another layer of information that its decision desk can use to help decide. Ryan calls it Fox News' "insurance policy."CBS learned from the 2000 election malfunction that it needed something beyond the science. Not only do they have experts in politics and math, but they also have added people with good political instincts to help determine whether the results are on target or not. And Mason said that CBS News is hiring stringers to help find out if there are unusual things like heavy turnout or irregularities in such places as Ohio and Missouri, where there have been problems in the past."There's nothing like people on the ground," Mason said.

Each network decision desk has been ramping up, conducting at least weekly dry runs since the summer with simulated data streams from the AP and NEP. Each member is prepared to pull the all-nighter because the work will begin in the late morning or early afternoon on Election Day and continue, even without a contested election like 2000, well past the networks' morning shows.But through it all, one maxim remains vital for every decision desk.

"Our instruction is to get it right, not first," ABC's Merkle said.

Thanks to Chifan9 for the screecap.

Election night could be a long one for media

NEW MACHINES, EXIT POLLS MIGHT SLOW RESULTS
By David Bauder
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - With public interest running unusually high, this year's midterm elections pose tough challenges for the vote-counting and exit poll operations that major news organizations rely on to provide speedy word about the outcome.
The system for tabulating votes, run by The Associated Press, will have to deal with a greater than normal number of polling places that are using new voting machines, increasing the possibility of glitches or delays.
And the consortium formed by ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel and the AP to conduct exit polls on Election Day has made changes to prevent a repeat of problems experienced in 2004. That year, early poll results were leaked to the Internet and created a misleading picture of how the presidential race was going. Later exit poll results also were unreliable in some cases because of problems that included insufficient training of interviewers.
The 2006 midterms are being watched especially keenly because Democrats are hoping to ride public anger about the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq to take control of the House and Senate away from Republicans.
"We're prepared for a late night, maybe being here all night and into the next morning," said Dan Merkle, ABC News decision desk director. ABC, CBS and NBC plan one-hour prime-time specials and periodic updates, while cable news networks will follow the elections full-time.
As they did in 2004, the networks will rely solely on the AP to tabulate returns. The AP employs stringers in nearly every U.S. county, or every city and town in New England, to call in results of more than 6,000 state and local races to one of more than a dozen tabulation centers, with regional hubs in New York and Spokane, Wash. The earliest returns begin to trickle out shortly after 6 p.m. ET, when the first polls close in Indiana and Kentucky, and the pace quickens to a peak between 10 p.m. and midnight ET.
Updated counts are sent to newspapers, broadcasters and Web sites every few minutes.
In a typical year, 5 percent of counties are dealing with new voting equipment at some of their polling places. This year, it's 60 percent.
Several problems surfaced during primary elections this year. Equipment trouble in Chicago caused very late results there. A software bug prevented many counties in Florida from delivering precinct totals. Up to 20 percent of California's vote wasn't counted on primary night, according to an AP analysis.
"There's always something," said Sandy Johnson, the AP's Washington bureau chief, "and if you're in the business of counting votes and calling elections as the AP is, you take that into consideration and are as careful and accurate and fast as you can be."
While exit poll information will be used to help call Senate and governor's races, news organizations for the most part have to rely on the actual results in House contests to make their calls. The increased number of mail-in or provisional ballots also works against quick resolutions.
"That makes this potentially a very exciting election night," said Kathleen Frankovic, CBS News director of surveys.