All three broadcast networks expand their newscasts tonight

After attracting huge audiences with their political coverage, the television networks aren't about to change the subject. It's been all politics, all day on the cable news networks. And tonight, Brian Williams, Charles Gibson and Katie Couric are all getting an hour to chew over the election results, as opposed to their usual 30 minutes.

It's not often that the broadcast news divisions do expanded editions of the evening newscasts, since that forces local stations to choose between the network broadcast and their local news or syndicated programming.

-- Matea Gold

UPDATED: Early ratings show ABC in the lead for election night viewership

Now that the presidential vote is in, we’re starting to get a sense of the results of another tightly contested race that was held Tuesday –- the competition between the television networks for the most election-night viewers.

Nielsen Media Research’s version of an exit poll is now available: the ratings from the 56 largest markets in the country, which make up about 70% of U.S. television households.

In those cities, ABC -– whose coverage was anchored by Charles Gibson, Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos -- garnered the biggest viewership in prime time, pulling in a 9.2 rating, meaning it was watched by 9.2% of TV households. It was followed by NBC, with an 8.3 rating, and CNN, which pulled in a rating of 8.0.

Fox News took fourth with 5.6, while CBS had 4.7 and MSNBC had 4.0.

If those figures hold, that would give ABC sizable bragging rights at a time when it’s locked in a battle with NBC over which network can claim to have the top-rated evening newscast.

We’re still waiting to get a sense of the overall audience Tuesday night. With about two dozen television networks covering the election results, the viewership seems bound to eclipse the record audience that tuned in 2000, when 40 million households watched the returns.

UPDATE: The latest ratings just came in, and they show ABC beat its broadcast competitors with an average of 13.14 million viewers in prime time, which was 9% larger than its election night audience in 2004. It marks the first time ABC has won a presidential election night since 1996.

NBC pulled in an average of 12.02 million viewers, down 18% from 2004. CBS had 7.83 million, a drop of 14%. The Fox broadcast network averaged 5.18 million.

-- Matea Gold

Critic's Notebook: The election serial's final chapter

And so we came to the last day of a serial that lasted nearly two years -- an epic of Dickensian sweep and proportion, full of laughter (hearty, bitter, satirical) and tears (of sorrow, of joy, of frustration), with an enormous cast of characters that a generation ago would have been considered unlikely at best -- the stuff of speculative fiction. A generation? It is a world away from the last election.

This cast comprised not merely the candidates, and the sprawling fields from which they emerged, but the ranks of new and old media people whose job it was to follow them, to analyze their statements and actions, or merely to blow hot air their way. It was a story that into its last hours, when a unanimity of opinion coalesced out of a haze of speculation, and the chatter ran up against the facts, remained almost willfully unpredictable, in spite of an anxious, universal desire to tamp it down.

This story was formed in large part by television and the Internet. We here in the print world had our scoops and summations, but overwhelmingly we came to understand these characters as the sum of their walking and talking. This was finally the election where the new media really meant something, not just in terms of organizing, but in the marshaling of images -- it was the year of the embedded video. In this expanded media universe, one could find a number of ways through the story -- you could travel by way of the sort-of-left MSNBC, or the fairly-balanced-to-the-right Fox News, by the Daily Kos or The Corner. But in the end, all roads led to the shores of Lake Michigan.

At 8 p.m., all the networks project Barack Obama the next president of the United States

The official verdict from the television networks came down at precisely 8 p.m., just as the polls closed in California: Barack Obama had won the 2008 presidential contest.

“An African American has broken a barrier as old as the Republic,” NBC anchor Brian Williams said. “An astonishing candidate, an astonishing campaign, a seismic shift in American politics.”

With plenty of time to prepare, all the networks made the call simultaneously, pronouncing with certainty what they had prognosticated throughout the night.

“Barack Obama will be the 44th president of the United States,” said ABC anchor Charles Gibson.

Over on CBS, anchor Katie Couric said: “We have breaking news, momentous news, really: CBS now estimates that  because of victories in California, Washington, Oregon and Hawaii, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois will be the next president of the United States."

The network projections came remarkably early compared with 2004, when the close count in Ohio left the outcome unclear late into the night. Tonight, the picture was much clearer, and the television anchors spent much of the night trying -– sometimes in vain -- to keep from calling the race until it was official.

“Barack Obama is going to be the next president of the United States,” Bob Schieffer said on CBS News shortly after 7 p.m., when the network projected that the Democrat had 206 electoral votes.

Others were a bit more reserved in their assessments.

“It’s getting very, very close for Sen. Obama,” CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer said around the same time. “And the climb for Sen. McCain -- you know, it’s hard to see how he gets to the 270.”

The relative discipline by the networks stemmed from the public drubbing the networks received in 2000 after their premature calls about who had won Florida contributed to massive confusion about the outcome of the race.

This year, the broadcast and cable networks vowed not to project a president-elect before a nominee officially had 270 electoral votes on his column. They held off awarding any electoral votes into all the polls in a state were scheduled to close, and waited for actual vote returns in close contests instead of projecting based on exit polls.

But that didn’t stop anchors and analysts from offering early hints about the way the race was leaning. The first clues came around 5 p.m., when the networks began handing Obama a win in Pennsylvania, a state Sen. John McCain had vowed to win.

“If Virginia doesn’t go the way the McCain campaign is hoping, then it becomes this iron triangle of survival for John McCain of Florida, North Carolina and Ohio,” NBC political director Chuck Todd said.

At 6:18 p.m., Fox News was the first network to give Obama the key prize of Ohio.

“Unless something miraculous happens in one of these non-battleground states, McCain’s situation is looking pretty dire,” anchor Brit Hume said.

“At the moment it still looks pretty grim for Sen. McCain and a very daunting task here,” Sam Donaldson said on ABC News 10 minutes later.

Over on NBC, Tom Brokaw agreed.

“Let’s cut to the chase here,” he said. “At this moment, this is very heartening news for Barack Obama.”

Shortly before 8 p.m., Hume noted that the California polls were about to close. “And you know what that means,” he said.

At 7:55 p.m., Williams urged viewers to keep watching because coming up, there would be “some major states, some major calls -– it gets exciting.”

Five minutes later, it was all over.

-- Matea Gold, Scott Collins, Maria Elena Fernandez and Martin Miller.

Critic's Notebook: Oh, that magic map

I’m madly in love with John King, and I refuse to believe I am alone. The way he handles CNN's magic map — so deftly, with such a light touch — fills me with joy and, more important, as much serenity as one can hope for on a night like this. Here is a breakdown of Indiana county by county, here is the role history has played, the current demographics and what they potentially mean. He understands so much, that John King, and presents it with such utter calm — what would my life be like, I wonder, if I could have daily contact with such precise information, such placid wisdom? What would my life be like if I had a magic map of my own? A lot better than it is most days, that’s what.

Although it’s relatively early and some polls are still open, I’m going to have to call this year’s election coverage for CNN, and not just because of King. Though historically the most graphically hysterical of the cable news networks, CNN showed rare restraint during much of this year’s election night. Yes, there was a hologram, but unlike its competitors, you could actually watch CNN for more than five minutes without getting a migraine. It did parcel out its projections with caution that bordered on coyness — they were the last, for example, to call Pennsylvania and Ohio for Barack Obama — and packaged them with special a projection soundtrack (heavy on horns) and projection graphics (heavy on stars). But compared especially with MSNBC, CNN looked positively streamlined.

MSNBC, and I say this with love because everyone behaved just beautifully and, when he’s not screaming, Chris Matthews has a lovely smile, was a visual mess. Its bottom border updated the Senate races, while the whole right side of the screen tallied, and retallied, the presidential race (with an unbecoming mustard yellow inexplicably added to the traditional blue and red -- huge mistake). They had their version of CNN’s magic map, but Chuck Todd worked it from a podium that I’m assuming was not computer generated, which caused it to lose a lot in translation. And suffice it to say, he’s no John King.

BBC America was fun to watch, with its low-rent set (no CG, just a cheesy White House backdrop and a decided echo) and nonchalant attitude. The accent always lends a certain gravitas to whatever they're saying, and they promised an appearance by Ricky Gervais, but as of 7 p.m., he had not shown.

For sheer entertainment value, however, nothing beat Fox News when, as a McCain victory appeared less and less likely, it began spinning Obama as a potential centrist. Could be true, but considering the source, mildly hilarious. Also, thumbs up for those dancing blue block graphs. Maybe King could get a few of those for 2012.

-- Mary McNamara

The networks hand Ohio to Obama, say things look grim for McCain

The biggest call of the night came between 6:15 and 6:30, when the networks all called Ohio for Obama. And without officially declaring the Democrat the next president, they came pretty close.

“Unless something miraculous happens in one of these nonbattleground states, McCain’s situation is looking pretty dire,” Brit Hume said on Fox News, which gave Ohio to Obama at 6:18.

“At the moment it still looks pretty grim for Sen. McCain and a very daunting task here,” Sam Donaldson said on ABC.

"I don't think you can find the numbers on the map and figure out how John McCain can win now,” Bob Schieffer said on CBS.

-- Matea Gold

Election: Fox News takes its time with Pennsylvania

Fox News took its time deciding which way Pennsylvania was going to go on election night.

Other networks reported around 8 p.m. Eastern time that the state, which is closely watched because of its 21 electoral votes, was likely to go for Sen. Barack Obama. But Fox declined to make the call.

"We are holding back on doing so," Fox anchor Brit Hume told viewers.

Fox analyst Michael Barone explained that, while exit poll data did show a "significant" advantage for Obama, the network did not want to call the race because it still had no actual returns from the state.

Many Republicans have complained that exit polls are misleading and tend to favor Democrats. Barone spoke on-air about "WPEs" (within-precinct errors) that refer to the gap between exit-poll results and actual voting returns. He said Fox analysts looked at exit polls with "a gimlet eye" because the final results "vary so much."

But by 8:30 p.m., Fox News announced that it was calling the state for Obama.

The difference, as Barone later explained on the air, was that the WPEs had come in — and suggested that the chances were less than 1-in-250 that McCain could carry the state.

— Scott Collins

The networks all call Pennsylvania for Obama; the McCain campaign isn't so sure

By 5:30 p.m., all the television networks had called Pennsylvania for Obama. But the McCain campaign wasn’t quite convinced.

“We don’t feel we have quite enough information yet,” senior advisor Nicolle Wallace told NBC’s Brian Williams. “We thought it was called a little early…we’re still going to keep an eye on that.”

-- Matea Gold

Election: A Pennsylvania delight for Dean?

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean was smiling during his remote appearance on MSNBC as election anchor Chris Matthews discussed an early projection that Sen. Barack Obama had won Pennsylvania.

"So far, so good," Dean said, "but we've still got a long way to go. There are still a lot of people out west who have not voted yet, and we want to be sure they get out and vote."

Dean said he was encouraged by early projections that Obama was winning over voters "across the board": "That's the most wonderful thing about this night." He added that it was a "wonderful start to the beginning of the healing of America."

Matthews said the Republicans had to win in the state in order to have a chance in the election. "The Republican strategy to win the Keystone State has failed," he predicted.

— Greg Braxton

NBC reports ballot confusion in Palm Beach

Tim Russert’s famous white board was reincarnated in another form tonight. Reporting from West Palm Beach, NBC correspondent Kerry Sanders held up a white piece of paper on air and quickly scribbled a diagram with black ink to explain why some voters there were confused by the ballot.

The tricky design had two boxes by the name of each candidate. Voters were supposed to fill in the space between the two boxes to indicate their selected candidate. Instead, Sanders said, some voters said they checked one box or put an X in the middle.

“Whether it’s a very close vote here in Florida, specifically in Palm Beach Country, that will then become an issue,” Sanders said.

Anchor Brian Williams shook his head incredulously.

“How many people are watching right now saying, 'Does it have to be this hard?' ” he said.

-- Matea Gold

CNN pulls the hologram card

Just when MSNBC’s Golden Rotunda seemed the clear winner in the Most Warped Use of Computer Graphics by a Major News Organization category, CNN chose to divert the attention of anxious voters with Jessica Yellin Live from Chicago via hologram.

Shimmering slightly around the edges, Yellin reported on something, I honestly couldn’t tell you what because by the time my screams of "CNN goes hologram!" died down to "Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi. You’re my only chance hope," I had missed her whole report. Something about a secret dossier and the identity of a double agent in Berlin, I believe.

So as early-poll-results-anxiety reliever, Yellin by hologram: 12 out of 10. As an effective purveyor of the news, -7.

Next up, Keith Olbermann revealed to be a cyborg.

— Mary McNamara

The network anchors set the tone for the night

At 4 p.m., all the broadcast networks went on the air and offered their preliminary assessments of the race so far. The early calls nearly everyone agreed upon: Vermont for Obama and Kentucky for McCain.

NBC’s Tom Brokaw: “We can say with certainty, based on all the long lines we saw at the polls today…It’s the end of apathy. People want to get back involved in their American political system, because they have a big stake in it.”

ABC’s Diane Sawyer said people are thinking about “the economy, the economy, the economy.”

CBS’s Katie Couric: “America stands at the doorway of destiny as we the people make choices about the future of our nation.”

Couric outlined the 10 key states CBS is watching: Virginia, Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Florida, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada. Jeff Greenfield noted that Bush won all of those states in 2004, except Pennsylvania. McCain has to win the rest of the states to be in the game, Greenfield said.

“This is not a wind he sailed into tonight,” Greenfield said. “It’s a gale.”

-- Matea Gold