ABC News has announced its midterm election team: Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos will anchor election night coverage Tuesday, Nov. 2. ABC is turning over 90 primetime minutes to the news division: from 9:30-11pmET. There will be updates on the half hours between 8-9:30ET as well.
And when coverage isn’t on ABC-TV, it’ll be on ABCNews.com, the news division’s Facebook page and on through its iPad app.
This is just after the announcement of a debate series anchored by Stephanopoulos and Jake Tapper. Key Senate, House, and Gubernatorial races will be available on several ABC platforms: ABC News broadcast, Facebook live stream, the ABC News iPad application, and ABCNews.com.
And even ABC will have its own magic wall, with Jonathan Karl playing the role of John King. No holograms, we’re assured.
ABC NEWS ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR “VOTE 2010”
Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos to Anchor Midterm Election Night Coverage
ABC News Election Night Coverage Available to Viewers Where They Are —
Coverage to Be Live-Streamed on Facebook®, ABCNews.com, and ABC News’ iPad App
ABC News today announced plans for its “Vote 2010” coverage of the midterm elections. ABC’s team of anchors and correspondents will provide voters with an all-access pass to the key House, Senate and Gubernatorial races with reporting across multiple broadcasts and platforms.
On Election Night, November 2, ABC’s “Vote 2010” will be anchored by “World News” anchor Diane Sawyer and Chief Political Correspondent and “Good Morning America” co-anchor, George Stephanopoulos from ABC News headquarters in New York. The network will carry special reports at the top and bottom of each hour from 8:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. followed by a live 90-minute special at 9:30 p.m. ET / 9:30 p.m. PT.
ABC News kicks off its Election Night reporting with a special pre-game program that will be live-steamed on ABCNews.com, Facebook®, and on the ABC News iPad application from 8:00 – 9:30 p.m. ET. Coverage will anchored from ABC News headquarters in New York and will include reporting from Facebook® headquarters in Palo Alto. Beginning at 9:30 p.m. Facebook and ABCNews.com will live-stream the network’s election coverage anchored by Sawyer and Stephanopoulos.
In addition to live-streaming ABC’s Election Night coverage, ABC News and Facebook® are joining forces on a number of initiatives throughout the election season. Facebook will reach out to people on Facebook in key congressional districts to explore the issues that are driving campaigns, giving ABC News a unique perspective into these races. People on Facebook will have an opportunity to interact with ABC News broadcasts, offering questions, comments, and opinions. In addition, they will be able to contribute questions to a series of local debates. ABC News and Facebook first partnered to cover the 2008 Presidential election and most recently for a special “This Week” town hall meeting on Islam.
ABC News’ team of anchors and correspondents are providing comprehensive coverage of the key races and issues leading up to Election Night for all broadcasts and platforms:
· Christiane Amanpour and “This Week” will feature exclusive interviews and air special roundtables, analyzing the latest political news with updates on all the key races.
· Senior Political Correspondent Jonathan Karl reporting on the pivotal House and Senate races in the battle for control of Congress.
· Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper covering the White House’s involvement in Democratic campaigns across the country.
· Sharyn Alfonsi, John Berman, and Ron Claiborne covering the local issues that matter most to voters this election cycle.
· Providing analysis and historical context will be ABC News contributors George Will, Cokie Roberts, Donna Brazile and Matthew Dowd. They will be joined by Ron Brownstein, Editorial Director for the National Journal Group and conservative commentator Dana Loesch.
“Good Morning America” co-anchors George Stephanopoulos and Robin Roberts will provide the latest reporting each morning on the key races during election season. Stephanopoulos and Matthew Dowd continue to report on America’s ‘Frustration Index’ leading up to the election, a measure of public political and economic discontent in this country. Jonathan Karl continues analysis on “GMA’s” Smartscreen, an innovative touch-screen technology used to demonstrate where the competitive races stand.
Beginning Monday, October 25, a daily 15-minute live webcast will stream on the ABCNews.com homepage and “GMA” page, from 6:45 to 7:00 a.m., counting down to the beginning of “Good Morning America.” This special web programming will offer a jump start on the top political stories of the day as well as a quick tease of what is to come on the broadcast during the lead up to Election Day.
ABCNews.com has complete coverage from the ABC News Political Unit. ABC’s interactive election map provides detailed information about all races for Senate, Congress and Governor. Users can click on each state for a drill down further into a detailed look at the candidates and issues in each state. ABC News’ race ratings highlight the most competitive campaigns, providing the best odds at where things will stand after the elections.
“The Note,” the popular political tip-sheet started in 2000, was re-launched on Monday, September 20th with ABC’s new Deputy Political Director and political reporter Michael Falcone as its author. “The Note” is a one-stop shop for Washington insiders, reporters, and political junkies beginning with the morning tip-sheet and continuing throughout the day with the latest political news and analysis on “The Note” blog on ABC News.com.
This election season, ABC News and Yahoo! News are partnering to present a series of ABC News/Yahoo! News polls — the results of which will be posted on ABCNews.com and Yahoo! News’ online midterm elections hub, Ask America. The first poll, released in September, focused on the economy. ABC News will also be conducting substantive pre-election polling on election issues and preferences with The Washington Post. ABC News polling is produced and analyzed for ABC News by Gary Langer and Langer Research Associates.
ABC News/Washington Post “Top Line,” hosted by National Political Correspondent Jonathan Karl, Political Director Amy Walter and World News Senior Political Editor Rick Klein, is the place for a daily dose of news-making interviews with the key candidates as well as insightful analysis about the decisive races in the fight for control of Congress. “Top Line” is streamed live everyday at 12 p.m. on ABCNews.com and ABC NewsNow. It is also available on all ABC News iPhone and iPad applications. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TopLine/
ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper sets the table for the week ahead in politics with an honest and witty discussion on the stories making news in Washington on his weekly webcast “Political Punch,” also the name of his popular blog. The webcast, which launched today, also features newsmaker interviews and recurring segments, such as DC Ticker – a buy or sell market-style segment analyzing who is up and who is down in Washington.
ABC News Radio will be covering the key races leading up to the midterms with reporting from ABC News Radio correspondents Aaron Katersky, Vic Ratner, Steven Portnoy, Alex Stone and Matt Gutman. ABC News Radio White House Correspondent Ann Compton will also report on the various races.
ABC NewsOne, the network’s affiliate news service, will provide reporting during the lead up to Election Day from John Hendren and TJ Winick for ABC stations and will also be made available to all ABC clients and partners including the BBC, Bloomberg, NHK Japan, CTV Canada, and Univision.