Election Night: History in a Blur

By Tim Vercellotti

NEW YORK, NY (November 5, 2008)…Whether or not your preferred candidates won, it’s fair to say Election Night was a good night for pollsters.

While the nation is still wrapping up its vote count, it looks like Barack Obama’s margin of victory over John McCain will be in the five- to six-point range. That’s pretty close to the predictions of many of the final pre-election polls.

There were also few surprises at the state level. The states that were expected to be close were (Indiana, Missouri and North Carolina, for example). And the swing states that Obama was expected to pick up actually went his way (Colorado, Florida, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia). The results put to rest, at least for now, nagging doubts over whether survey respondents were being entirely truthful about voting for an African-American candidate.

Working with the CBS News decision desk did, indeed, provide a front row seat on history. Given the pace of Election Night, however, history passed by in a blur for much of the evening. The decision desk had to call the presidential race in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, 35 Senate races, 11 gubernatorial races, key House races and assorted ballot measures. There wasn’t much time for me to pause and reflect on what was happening.

But there was a moment, shortly after 10 p.m., when it became clear that once the Pacific states came in Obama would clinch the presidency. Obama’s margin in the exit polls in California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington was large enough that we would be able to project those states for him when those polls closed at 11 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. As I got word from the decision desk and prepared to send the information to the rest of the news staff, I felt a sense of excitement about what was about to happen. And once the polls closed and CBS News called the race for Obama, activity on the decision desk stopped for a moment as we watched the broadcast and took it all in.

A few minutes later my wife, who had canvassed in the rain in New Hampshire for Obama and made countless phone calls to undecided voters from our kitchen, called to savor the moment. We talked for a few minutes, but then it was back to work. There were still several close states in the presidential race and some key Senate contests to be called. History would have to wait, at least until the morning.