Image Credit: Carolyn Kaster/AP

All of the network and cable news networks declared President Obama reelected shortly after 11 p.m., projecting a crucial win in Ohio. TV screens were immediately filled with images of people all over the country — and the world — reacting with joy. The TV analysts were more sober, and in some cases, in disagreement.

Election night on television is always its own riot of staggered results, projected winners, and the wild cheers erupting behind state victors. It’s also cutting-edge technology versus gassy-air punditry. This year, the contrasts were more vivid than ever. I have in the past poked fun at CNN’s John King and his Technicolor-Wizard-Touchy-Feely Map, but on this night, he did a masterful job both physical and mental. By which I mean, his adroit tap-tap-taps on the TWTF Map broke out states county-by-county, and he knew exactly where to find voting totals, previous-election trends, and projected numbers to deliver calm, coherent tales of the tape. READ FULL STORY »

Image Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The final Presidential debate on Monday night presented the odd spectacle of challenger Mitt Romney conceding over and over that he fundamentally agreed with a whole host of President Obama-led foreign policy strategies, while moderator Bob Schieffer offered too many questions that were, as Romney put it, “hypotheticals” that both men brushed aside. READ FULL STORY »

Image Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The second Presidential debate showcased a Barack Obama who was more lively than he seemed in the first debate, and he was met by an equally lively Mitt Romney who was prepared to steamroll over not just the President but moderator Candy Crowley as well. The “town hall” debate was designed to allow citizens to ask questions of the candidates directly, but very often, the ordinary folks were dispatched as quickly as possible by both men so that they could lean from their chairs and dangle their microphones from their wrists like dueling Dean Martins, then saunter around the stage, and occasionally pounce on each other. Obama accused Romney of offering the public a “sketchy deal”; the Republican made the wise remark, when aimed at self-proclaimed “undecided voters,” that “our party has been focused on big business [for] too long.” This was two guys doing the cha-cha, with punches thrown in. READ FULL STORY »