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Nov.
7
7:30 p.m.
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8:30 p.m.
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Bush, meanwhile, was completing a near electoral sweep of the South, picking up Virginia, Georgia, the Carolinas and his home state of Texas. But NBC's Tim Russert said the governor would have to "run the table" of remaining states to win the election.
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"Things are looking good for Gore this hour," Fox News Channel's Brit Hume said shortly before the top of the hour. With Gore taking such an early lead, questions about Bush's continued viability fed analysts' discussions. For some, the vice president's push meant Election Night could end early.
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9:30 p.m.
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"The networks called this thing awfully early," Bush said, "but the people actually counting the votes are coming up with a different perspective. So we're pretty darn upbeat about things." As the hour wore on, those watching the numbers pour in at the networks were getting a lot less upbeat about their calls in Florida. With the margin between Bush and Gore growing slimmer by the minute, the Voter News Service canceled the vote in one Florida county at 9:38, finally retracting its call in the entire state at 10:13. |
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Red faces abounded. "Could you pass the crow?" CNN's Judy Woodruff asked colleague Bernard Shaw. At CBS, Dan Rather blamed the reversed call on bad data. "To err is human," Rather said, "but to really foul up requires a computer... If you're disgusted with us, frankly, I don't blame you."
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11:00 p.m.
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After their change
of heart on Florida, the networks' coverage centered -- as it would
for much of the remainder of the evening -- on electoral math. CBS's
Rather turned to a miniature election map attached to his desk, "The thing about tonight is, we don't know who the next president of the United States will be," Russert said. "This electoral map is as unpredictable now as it was two weeks ago." Said CBS's Rather, "It's cardiac arrest time in the presidential campaign." |
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But with both candidates stuck near the 245-vote mark in the electoral college, it was still anybody's election. With Alaska going quickly for Bush and Hawaii swiftly for Gore, it all came down to eight states: Arkansas, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington and a still-deadlocked Florida. Oregon and Washington, both of which use mail-in balloting, became central to network punditry, since it was becoming more and more likely the two states would play an important role in determining a winner. As the night wore on, the networks stepped up footage of crowds assembled in Nashville, Tenn. and Austin, Texas, all hoping to be part of a victory party.
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Nov. 8
1:00 a.m.
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"At the start of this race, we all thought Florida was securely in Bush's camp. We all thought the Dukakis states were clearly in Gore's camp," he said. "Neither of those things have been true, and that's why we're here at 1 o'clock in the morning wondering who the president is going to be." |
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Amid all the talk was a continuous underscoring of Florida's importance. "The key here," CNN's Greenfield said "is, Oregon and Wisconsin -- no offense to those good people -- are now irrelevant. ... This thing literally could not be any closer. Florida is the ballgame."
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2:15 a.m.
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Within minutes, the other networks followed suit. "George Bush, Governor of Texas will become the 43rd President of the United States," CNN's Bernard Shaw announced atop a graphic montage of a smiling Bush. "At 18 minutes past two o'clock Eastern time, CNN declares that George Walker Bush has won Florida's 25 electoral votes and this should put him over the top."
"Unless there is a terrible calamity, George W. Bush, by our projections, is going to be the next president of the United States."
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In a concession phone call to Bush, Gore congratulated the governor on his win and wished him the best. According to his campaign staff, the vice president left his hotel in Nashville to address a rain-soaked crowd in the city's War Memorial Plaza. But a funny thing happened on the way to Gore's concession. The 50,000-vote margin between Bush and Gore shrank to thousands. Then, to just hundreds. While the networks continued to forecast what a Bush administration might bring, Gore campaign staff sent their candidate an urgent page: the fight's not over yet.
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3:00 a.m.
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The stages were set, the mood at each location clear. Everything was ready to go. But nothing happened. At 3 a.m., with still no solid speech time in sight, the NewsHour signed off. Eleven minutes later, the AP worked up a press advisory: Bush's lead had dwindled to 6,000 votes, with counts still forthcoming from two heavily Democratic counties. "That would be something if the networks managed to blow it twice in one night," NBC's Tom Brokaw said. Just minutes later, he'd find out that they had.
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Then at around 3:30 a.m., another call came in to Bush's aides. It was Gore. In what press reports say was a heated 90-second exchange, the vice president retracted his earlier concession, saying the vote margin was too close for either candidate to declare victory. By this time, CNN reports from Florida said the margin separating the two candidates had dropped to 1,300 votes. Facing yet another electoral turnaround, CNN's Judy Woodruff admitted she was stumped. "I don't think I have the vocabulary to describe what we have witnessed tonight," she said. But it wasn't just the broadcast journalists who found the election had again thrown a wrench in their works. For print reporters, it meant listening to the sounds of presses screeching to a halt -- sometimes more than once. The Austin-American Statesman was one newspaper lured into a "Bush!" banner headline -- one that eventually morphed into a more indecisive "History on Hold." But that meant recalling as many as 59,000 copies of the paper. The same calamity hit The New York Times, which ended up shelving 115,000 papers declaring a Bush win at 4 a.m., and The Boston Globe, which pulled 20,000 faulty copies from its loading docks.
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4:00 a.m.
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CBS and NBC made their retractions at 3:59 a.m., with the other networks following soon thereafter. "We're not absolutely sure quite what to do next," said Jennings on ABC. Each network continued to flash scenes from the crowds waiting in Austin and Nashville, as faces turned from the joy of victory and the anger of defeat to a general consternation and confusion.
"Without being certain of the results in Florida," he said, "we simply cannot be certain of the results of this election." Don Evans of the Bush campaign spoke in Austin minutes later.
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The networks lamented the night's biggest turnabout, but the continually shrinking margin between the two men remained the early morning mantra. "Two hundred twenty-four votes separate these two candidates," CNN's Greenfield said. "...At this juncture, with a reported 100 percent reporting, [224 votes] separate George Bush from Al Gore, and separate both these men from the presidency of the United States." Shortly before 5 a.m., Gore had captured the lead in the national popular vote -- a lead he held onto as counts continued in several states. Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth told a local Florida station shortly after the top of the hour that an automatic recount of Florida's votes would begin a few hours later -- and that the count could be completed as early as 5 p.m. ABC signed off shortly afterward, but not before a hot night on the air got a little bit hotter when a studio light burst into flame. The fire was put out by a staffer. |
7:00 a.m.
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But it was a thoroughly unusual morning. The election day anchor teams had stayed up into the wee hours, with some, like the NBC and CBS teams, broadcasting on into their morning programs. Election returns had slowed to a trickle as sunrise approached on the East Coast. But at 6:24 a.m., the Associated Press called the state of Wisconsin -- and its 11 electoral votes -- for Gore.
Some in the media blamed returns from the Voter News Service. Others blamed computer data mix-ups. But many in the public -- and in the media -- placed the blame for a night of network retractions square on the shoulders of the journalists themselves. "Boy, they've [the networks] got some explaining to do," former CBS newsman Walter Cronkite told The Los Angeles Times. "They bear all the responsibility." |
And
as the networks revved up their coverage, CBS's Dan Rather summed
up television's great expectations: "We would rather be last than
be wrong," Rather said, "If we say somebody's carried a state, you
can pretty much take it to the bank." 
7:00 p.m.
"Al
Gore wins the state of Florida and its 25 electoral votes," Peter
Jennings of ABC announced. "It gives him the first big-state
momentum of the evening."
The
same sentiment reigned at CBS. Anchor Dan Rather said Bush's prospects
were "shakier than cafeteria Jell-O."
9:30
p.m. -- Florida
was still the big story for the Bush campaign. At about 9:45,
the Texas governor told members of the press he thought the media had
spoken too soon.
while
NBC's Russert kept track of the various
electoral scenarios using a wipe-away marker board -- pointing out the
growing possibility of a 269 - 269 tie in the electoral college between
the two candidates.
By
now, fatigue and frustration were creeping onto the network airwaves.
Entering his eighth hour on the air, CNN's Jeff Greenfield summed up
some of his colleagues' feelings.
As
with the several preceding hours spent in electoral limbo, the pundits
reigned supreme on the networks. ABC's George Stephanopolous worked
the numbers, NBC's Tim Russert scribbled madly on his marker board.
CNN oscillated between its Capital Gang and Crossfire's Mary Matalin
and Mike McCurry. The NewsHour cameras panned between expert panels
and political commentators Mark Shields and Paul Gigot.
Ten
minutes after the top of the hour, network excitement was again beginning
to build. At 2:16 a.m., the call was made: Fox News Channel,
with Bush's first cousin John Ellis running its election desk, was the
first to project Florida -- and the presidency -- for the Texas governor.
Reports
from each campaign's gathering sites reflected the night's events: An
ecstatic Austin crowd erupted into cheers with each live report chronicling
Bush's win, while a somber mood enveloped Gore supporters, huddled together
in a cold, ironic rain.
While
the networks filled time, the campaigns were abuzz with news of Florida's
narrowing vote margin. 
Just
after 4 a.m., Gore campaign chairman William Daley was the first
to appear on stage in Nashville.
"We
hope and believe we have elected the next president of the United States,"
he said. "I'm confident when all is said and done, we will prevail."
"We
don't just have egg on our face," NBC's Brokaw said at 4:45
a.m., " -- we have an omelet on our suits."
Several
morning newspapers -- including The Tampa Tribune, The Orlando Sentinel,
and recalled editions of The New York Post -- echoed their broadcast
colleagues' mistakes, issuing editions with "Bush Wins" headlines
-- yet another goof the media would find themselves apologizing for
soon thereafter.The NewsHour Media Unit, including this site, is funded by grants from:   |
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