Ouch... Bush just took a 152,056 vote lead in Ohio.

Whatever county(ies) they (CNN) just added boosted Bush's lead in Ohio to 152,056 votes. Only 30% of the precincts left to report. So far, Franklin County, where Columbus is, has 91% of its preceincts reporting and Kerry with a 29,268... that leaves a deficit of 122,788 votes Kerry needs to pick up in the other counties, which don't have as large as cities as Franklin. And that's assuming Bush doesn't pick up another vote in the State.

I think Ohio is going to lean Bush tonight.

I just heard on Air America Kerry in the lead with 63 percent in Ohio. Running much stronger than even Gore did.

After the media created fiasco four years ago, isn't the prudent thing to just wait for the official results... or the concessions speech of either candidate?

That goes for whether one is for Bush or um, the other guy, doesn't it?

LOL... Those stats don't even match up with the official AP results.

sorry they just repeated it...it was in Cleveland...trying to listen type and watch tv at the same time.

Associated Press???? LOL you're funny

Hey may have a 66% of the vote in Cleveland, but 66% of the vote there is NOT enough votes to take the state. Sorry.

Hey Kendra -- it's mathematically impossible for Kerry to get 311 EC Votes not... FYI...

I am showing Bush with a 4 percent lead over Kerry...and Franklin leaning towards Kerry by 6 percent with 91 percent of votes in. Kerry will win Ohio but by a meager margin.

Kerry just took Oregon

I'm in the media and I agree 100%... But everyone wants to be up with the very latest - greatest breaking news.. It attracts views and this is the last glut of the election cash cow.

Ever wonder why the Ratings period starts on November 1st?

Now for anyone that's TRUELY objective you can test this yourself.
Currently I'm at work and in front of me is a wall of TV's - each on a different station.

Heres a couple of things you'll notice:

NBC won't give Bush Florida - they are playing it safe after last time, but they still 'give' states to make the results stay fairly close -- a close race is a good race. A close race attracts viewers (by NBC standards)

Now over on FOX the numbers have shown a fairly large lead for Bush since the coverage started. The Fox demographic is different (as is their definition of jouralism - but thats the fodder for another post).. The average Fox viewer would like to see that.

Thats the beauty of exit polls I guess.. no REALLY hard and fast provable numbers -- you can 'err on the side of caution' and still put on a good horse and pony show for the viewers.

The real winners of this election are big media - stations around the country made untold millions airing political brown ads.

Personally I'd like the TV to say 'Get the fuck out and vote.... we bring you the winners.... when we get em in'

But if all the stations did that... one bright spark would start 'predicting' and start the whole thing over again.

Siggy.
(back to the grindstone - thank christ for notepad)

The good ole AP - putting the ASS back into Associated.

Fear not though - even if the AP gets it happening, local producers kick the shit out of those stories till they are only shadows of their former selves.

Check back with me on Friday when I'm proved right --and Florida and Ohio go back into the Kerry column.

Siggy... I respect you as a person... realize that as/if you read the rest of this.

I have llittle to no respect for the media as a whole.. pick a medium, no respect or so little that you need an electron microscope to measure/detect it.

The more I have studied media history, economics and practices as an academic, the smaller my respect for the entire industry. Movie quality has declined. Stories are recycled rather than created. Talking heads beleieve they ARE the news not merely the looking glass through which we can view the news - and if they act as a looking glass, they skew the picture so violently that even those present at the reported-on event may not recognize the story being aired. Yes, this is probably a result of profit motives.. So what? I don't care why.

The media, in America the self-appointed 4th Estate, would rather make a penny than tell the truth - this has been documented time and time again. I have no respect for them any longer... but it's the only game in town for the news so I am stuck with it.

As for election coverage... it's been so biased on both sides that had I not seriously looked at Kerry's record on my own, and though I still would have voted for Bush because of the coverage, I would have been voting in ignorance.... Kerry has routinely been covered in far less critical a fashion than has Bush... and that is ignoring the responsibility that the media has been entrusted with to provide a medium for information --- some propaganda will certainly be carried in any communications media.. but the general press has absolved itself ofits responsibility to povide unbiased info to the average voters... Instead they highlight the clash, not the substance. Even the mainstream media is more tabloid than ever before... more sensationalist ---- and I don't blame the ignorant general public for lapping it up... Raised on this pap over decades, most don't expect more from the press... and the press is happy to not give them real information...

Unfortunately, we are exporting this load of crap around the world too.. what has become a bit of an abomination of the American dream - a useful press and free/open elections. At least a few of the Founding Fathers are certainly rolling over in their graves tonight.

They did. As did CNN, FOX, ABC and CBS.