1980 Presidential Election-Today's Media

[RRusso1982]

I did a study of the 1980 Presidential Election.  I decided to do an election night transcript of that election occuring in 2008 starring today's media- Chris Matthews, Howard Fineman, Keith Olbermann, et al.

6:00 PM ET

Anchor- "Well, it is 6:00 PM, November 4.  Election Day.  In an hour the polls begin to close.  However, in a major surprise, the exit polls show a substantial Reagan victory in virtually all the key battleground states.  We will see what happens, as polls can be wrong

[RRusso1982]

6:30 PM ET

The polls begin to close in a half hour.  We know that President Carter voted early this morning in Plains, Georgia, and is now in the White House with his family awaiting results.  He will address supporters at the Sheraton Washington Hotel.  Governor Reagan is at his home in the Pacific Palisades, California, and his election night party is at the Hyatt Regence Century Plaza Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard.  Anchors covering both candidates report the president did not seem at all confident all day from his body language, and appeared to have been crying.

[RRusso1982]

7:00 PM

Well, it is now 7:00 PM and the polls close in 5 states, and already NBC news is ready to make some projections.

NBC News Projects governor Reagan has won Indiana
NBC News projects President Carter has won his home state of Georgia
NBC News Projects Governor Reagan has won Virginia.
Vermont is Too Early to Call
South Carolina is too close to call

Our current electoral count is Reagan at 24, Carter at 15

In Senate races, we are prepared to project that in South Senator Ernest "Fritz" Hollings will win reelection over Marshall T. Mays.

We are prepared to project that first term Kentucky senator Wendell Ford will win reelection over Mary L. Foust.

And in our first switch of the night, we now project that 3 term senator Birch Bayh will be defeated by young Congressman Dan Quayle. 

The Vermont Senate race is way too close to call with first term senator Pat Leahy holding a very small lead over Stewart Ledbetter. 

To analyze these results, we go to Howard Fineman

"Well, there are no major surprises so far in the presidential race, although late in the game, the Carter camp thought they may have a shot at Virginia, although this turned out to be not the case.  The Birch Bayh race is substantial.  He has been elected 3 times, never having an easy race, and his largest margin of victory was by 5 points 6 years ago, in the Watergate Democratic Wave.  He was one of te more liberal members of the Senate, and in the conservative state of Virginia, this has apparently caught up with him."

[RRusso1982]

7:30 PM

Well, the polls have just closen in 2 more states, Ohio and West Virginia.  NBC News has a big projection to make.  We are now prepared to call the state of Ohio, the Buckeye State, for Governor Ronald Reagan.  This is a state President Carter very narrowly carried over President Ford 4 years ago.  We also project Senator John Glenn has won Reelection.  In West Virginia, it is currently too close to call, however, Presidently consistently had a large lead in all the polls leading up to the election in the Mountaineer State.  We are, however, prepared to project that Governor Jay Rockefeller has been reelected over former governor Arch Moore.  Also, Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana has just delivered his concession speech.  Congressman Quayle will declare victory shortly.

Here is our current electoral count

Carter: 15
Reagan: 44

Now we go back to Howard Fineman
"Well, losing the all important state of Ohio is a huge roadblock to President Carter's path to reelection.  It can still be done, but is much harder.  President Carter's internal polling from the weekend showed Governor Reagan with a small lead in Ohio, but they thought a last hour visit from the president would change that.  This apparently is not the case, and Mr. Reagan wins, Ohio by apparently a substantial margin."

[RRusso1982]

8:00 PM ET

Well, it is now 8 PM and the polls are closing in the District of Columbia and 16 States.

NBC News projects president Carter has won the district of Columbia
NBC News Projects that Reagan has won the state of New Hampshire
NBC News projects that Governor Reagan has won the state of Oklahoma
NBC News projects that Reagan has won the state of Kansas. 
A big call, another flip from 4 years ago, NBC News projects Reagan has won the state of Florida
NBC News projects that Reagan has won the state of New Jersey
NBC News Projects Reagan has won Connecticut
Another big call.  NBC News projects Governor Reagan has won Illinois.
Another major flip from last election.  NBC news is also ready to project Governor Reagan has won the state of Pennsylvania.
Missouri is too early to call
Maine, Delaware, Maryland, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and Massachusetts are currently too close to call.

In Senate races, we now project that moderate Republican Charles Matthias of Maryland has won reelection
We also project that Kansas Senator Robert Dole has won a third term.
NBC News projects Congressman Chris Dodd, has won the Connecticut Senate seat being vacated by Senator Abraham Ribicoff, defeating former New York Senator Daniel Buckley.
NBC News also projects that in Illinois, State Secretary of State Alan Dixon has won the senate seat being vacated by Adlai Stevenson III
NBC News projects that in Oklahoma, state Senator Don Nickles has been. elected to succeed Senator Harry Bellemon

[Хahar 🤔]

Interesting. Dislike the color scheme, though.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Interesting. Dislike the color scheme, though.

     True, though that is the color scheme the media would use.

[Hash]

Dislike the color scheme, though.

^^

My eyes are hurting.

[Workers' Friend]

my eyes are hurting like Hell right now.

[Хahar 🤔]

Dislike the color scheme, though.

^^

My eyes are hurting.

The map as it looks right now could conceivably be a map on election night (except for VT).