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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| CNN gets its name in lights with Empire State Building alliance | CNN gets its name in lights with Empire State Building alliance |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| At 7pm, CNN was ready to bring us results. "Across the land this is the moment when Americans choose their leader and chart their future … this is the moment when everything is on the line and anything can happen," pronounced the network's voiceover to dramatic music that would have been fit for an X Factor final. | At 7pm, CNN was ready to bring us results. "Across the land this is the moment when Americans choose their leader and chart their future … this is the moment when everything is on the line and anything can happen," pronounced the network's voiceover to dramatic music that would have been fit for an X Factor final. |
| While the team at Fox News were still assembling cables, CNN showed off live boards in various cities round the country, where voters could watch electoral returns live, before revealing their fanciest piece of paraphernalia – the mast of the Empire State Building in New York. In a deal between the building and the cable network, red and blue totalizers will climb the mast, depending on CNN's poll results. By the end of the night, it will turn entirely red or blue depending on who has won the election (assuming it works according to plan.) | While the team at Fox News were still assembling cables, CNN showed off live boards in various cities round the country, where voters could watch electoral returns live, before revealing their fanciest piece of paraphernalia – the mast of the Empire State Building in New York. In a deal between the building and the cable network, red and blue totalizers will climb the mast, depending on CNN's poll results. By the end of the night, it will turn entirely red or blue depending on who has won the election (assuming it works according to plan.) |
| So early results show that in the race to spend money on bringing results to viewers, CNN has won hands down. | So early results show that in the race to spend money on bringing results to viewers, CNN has won hands down. |
| In the CNN election center, anchor Wolf Blitzer was super-excited. Moments before the polls closed in Ohio, West Virginia and North Carolina, he could barely contain himself as he projected an Indiana win for Romney. | In the CNN election center, anchor Wolf Blitzer was super-excited. Moments before the polls closed in Ohio, West Virginia and North Carolina, he could barely contain himself as he projected an Indiana win for Romney. |
| "Let's check the anxiety level with the candidates," he said before throwing it to Candy Crowley. | "Let's check the anxiety level with the candidates," he said before throwing it to Candy Crowley. |
| "It's pretty quiet here," said Crowley evenly from the Romney campaign. | "It's pretty quiet here," said Crowley evenly from the Romney campaign. |
| Quiet, too, at the Obama campaign. | Quiet, too, at the Obama campaign. |
| A disappointed Wolf handed the stage to Anderson Cooper, who was taking the evening in elegant stride, but Cooper only had the microphone for a few minutes before Wolf was back with another result. | A disappointed Wolf handed the stage to Anderson Cooper, who was taking the evening in elegant stride, but Cooper only had the microphone for a few minutes before Wolf was back with another result. |
| "In North Carolina, wow! 49-49%," he said. | "In North Carolina, wow! 49-49%," he said. |
| Can he sustain this level of excitement throughout the night? Can we? | Can he sustain this level of excitement throughout the night? Can we? |
| 10pm: Time to kill | |
| NBC has Democracy Plaza – a freezing location where correspondents can do live stand ups on the ice skating rink at Rockefeller Plaza, CBS has the expressionless Scott Pelley, and over at ABC there's an impressive A-list of has-beens. George Will, Cokie Roberts and Barbara Walters sit in a row flanked by Donna Brazile, fresh from the Gore campaign of 2000. In the election results of 2012 none of the networks has holograms or electronic gimmicks to match CNN's Empire State mast. | |
| In the absence of clever technology and with many states too close to call, the three broadcast networks have a lot of time to kill which their talking heads do in a mood that reflects that of the country at large. It's subdued, a little depressed, generally un-excited and definitely lacking the passion of four years ago. | In the absence of clever technology and with many states too close to call, the three broadcast networks have a lot of time to kill which their talking heads do in a mood that reflects that of the country at large. It's subdued, a little depressed, generally un-excited and definitely lacking the passion of four years ago. |
| Beneath the aimless chit-chat is the general expectation that President Obama will hold onto the White House by a small margin, and it's that expectation that saps the broadcasts of any tension they might have. | Beneath the aimless chit-chat is the general expectation that President Obama will hold onto the White House by a small margin, and it's that expectation that saps the broadcasts of any tension they might have. |
| Killing time, Barbara Walters listed the appearances that Michelle Obama and Ann Romney had put in on The View but she made no pretense of spontaneity, blatantly reading her remarks from cue cards. | Killing time, Barbara Walters listed the appearances that Michelle Obama and Ann Romney had put in on The View but she made no pretense of spontaneity, blatantly reading her remarks from cue cards. |
| Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos valiantly try to create the bubbly energy of a morning show, but the strain of the effort shows. | Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos valiantly try to create the bubbly energy of a morning show, but the strain of the effort shows. |
| NBC was a little more animated for a while. Brian Williams is a smooth anchor. But at 9.30pm when he came back from commercial break, and he told us that "Paul Ryan's home state of Wisconsin had fallen to Obama" he was positively funereal. | NBC was a little more animated for a while. Brian Williams is a smooth anchor. But at 9.30pm when he came back from commercial break, and he told us that "Paul Ryan's home state of Wisconsin had fallen to Obama" he was positively funereal. |
| "David Gregory, talk to me," he said as if he couldn't bring himself to go on. | "David Gregory, talk to me," he said as if he couldn't bring himself to go on. |
| CBS seemed to be broadcasting from an empty newsroom. Is this election so boring that no-one bothered to stay at work? | CBS seemed to be broadcasting from an empty newsroom. Is this election so boring that no-one bothered to stay at work? |
| "Two of the battleground states have now gone to the President," said Scott Pelley in a hushed monotone at 9.36. | "Two of the battleground states have now gone to the President," said Scott Pelley in a hushed monotone at 9.36. |
| "It is looking much more difficult for Mitt Romney to win the Presidency than it did half an hour ago," commented Bob Schieffer, the Grandpa Walton of the network, in a blinding statement of the obvious. | "It is looking much more difficult for Mitt Romney to win the Presidency than it did half an hour ago," commented Bob Schieffer, the Grandpa Walton of the network, in a blinding statement of the obvious. |
| All three networks assured us that it will be hours till we know the results from key state Florida. Let's hope they manage to stay awake till those poll numbers come in. | All three networks assured us that it will be hours till we know the results from key state Florida. Let's hope they manage to stay awake till those poll numbers come in. |
| 10.45pm: Fox, the network of losers | |
| By the time a manic Sarah Palin appeared on Fox at about 10.15 pm, crossing her fingers, and calling a probable Obama win "a catastrophic setback," the network seemed to have completely thrown in the towel. To be honest, Fox was glum from the start of the night. It's as if they knew something the rest of us had to wait to find out. One after another they came on to bemoan the votes. From Bill O'Reilly to Brit Hume to Palin and Greta Van Susteren, they complained about the future of the economy, and took pains to point out that Obama won't have a "clear mandate". | |
| Shortly after Fox called New Mexico for Obama at 10.20pm, Karl Rove appeared as the angel of optimism to predict that the state of Ohio would go to Romney. "Are you feeling pessimistic?" he was asked. | |
| Rove dodged the question and threw a bunch of inexpelicable numbers out. "Is this just math you do as a Republican to make yourself feel better," Megyn Kelly asked him. | |
| More numbers came flooding forth from Rove in response. 3% here 58% there, here a county, there a city, everywhere a number. | |
| "So many numbers," the anchors commented when they could get a word in again. Rove had completely flummoxed them. To catch their breath they cut to commercial. | |
| "I'm hearing the pessimism of people, I quite understand it," said new guest Peggy Noonan when Fox came back on air. | |
| "My goodness we just spent $2 billion – and we may end up with the same stasis," she said. "My question is, what happened here, if what appears to be happening appears to be so." | |
| This was the network of losers. By the time Obama adviser Robert "I feel very good about where we are" Gibbs appeared in a celebratory mood we had all caught up with their mood, and Gibbs' cheeriness felt almost inappropriate. | |
| "Tight, very tight, Ohio is closing, we'll be within one point…our path is getting narrow," said Chris Wallace reading an email he had just received from the Romney campaign. | |
| And then Fox called Minnesota for Obama - a state they said Romney had once had hopes for and it was kinder to turn away. |