According to TV network executives, a repeat of the suspenseful 2000 and 2004 elections, both of which went far into evening, doesn’t seem to be in the cards. The problem: How to hold onto TV audiences after a quick and decisive win by Obama.
"Our policy is that we won’t call individual states until all of the voting in those states is finished," said Jeffrey Schneider, ABC News senior vice president. "If enough of those states add up to 270 electoral votes, then the outcome is obvious."
Uh-oh, this could be over faster than a Bud Light commercial!
The quandary is highlighted by Virginia, a state that has not voted Democratic for president since 1964 but where Obama is now leading in polls. There is no realistic McCain electoral college strategy that does not depend on winning the Old Dominion.
If it is clear on Nov. 4 that Obama has won in Virginia by the time polls there close at 7 p.m. — it will still be daylight west of the Mississippi — the obvious conclusion will be that Obama is headed to the White House.
The dilemma for TV executives: How do they hang on to the viewers so that they can still garner the big advertising bucks?
I have an idea. Perhaps they could alternate coverage with some of the great political movies, like:
All the President’s Men (1976), starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman
The story of the downfall of the Nixon Administration and its thirst for power which led to the Watergate break in. It is certainly a sober study of a dark period in Ameican history, and perhaps a prophetic warning of the future Bush Administration (Why didn’t the American people pay attention?)
And:
"Wag the Dog", starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert de Niro (1998)
Many of us liken this movie to the Bush Administration’s hoodwinking of Americans on the Iraqi invasion.
Or on a happier note:
"The Candidate" (1972), starring Robert Redford and Peter Boyle.
This Oscar-winning story could in some ways be compared to Obama’s phenomenal rise to success.
Insight into the power of television and how it transformed American politics; first-time candidate and political idealist runs for the Senate
Better yet...why not just end the news early and let us all go to bed knowing that our nation is finally in good hands?