12:28: Rich Lowry on FNC: “Then there’s Barack Obama, this bright, shiny and new candidate…I think that’s quoting a Madonna song, Bret. It’s 12:30 at night though.” So it is. And calling Texas is still a long way off. A whole batch of new issues to address tomorrow morning…
12:25: “Who’s going to win Texas,” asks Larry King to David Gergen on CNN. “I don’t know, Larry,” says Gergen, sounding tired.
12:24: “We’ll all be looking up to you,” says Olbermann to Todd, as he stares at him overhead on the catwalk in the studio.
12:21: Is this a word? Chuck Todd calls what’s happening in Texas a “Prima-caucus.” Makes sense.
12:18: Larry King interviews Lou Dobbs on CNN about what surprises him the most “at this minute” about the election. “The ups and downs of Senator Clinton’s campaign,” Dobbs says.
12:16: Bob Beckel, sporting the Larry King suspenders on FNC, says, “You’ve got to let the dust settle a little bit here,” regarding the momentum Clinton gained tonight.
12:11: “We’re not going anywhere, we’re going to be here for a long time,” says Wolf Blitzer on CNN. Larry King, now involved in his sort-of-Larry King Live hour, thinks the counting will finish up tomorrow.
12:09: New in America’s Election HQ on FNC: Rich Lowry and Susan Estrich.
12:07: FNC reporter Kris Guttierez reports from Texas about the caucuses and polling. After a long pause after he throws it back to Bret Baier, he continues with some more of his report. Kris Guttierez?
12:06: MSNBC enjoying SNL some more. Chris Matthews gets a kick out of Darrell Hammond‘s Tim Russert impression.
12:04: “I think Saturday Night Live will come up as a factor, large or small,” says SNL-fan/host Brian Williams, in describing Clinton’s victory.
12:02: Olbermann makes a joke about how far we’ve come since February 13, and asks Brian Williams if he can recall where he was on that date. “I will check my elaborate system of bound personal logs, Keith, and get back to you,” Williams deadpans.
12:01: Here’s a new name for tonight. Keith Olbermann calls it, “Super Duper Plus Tuesday.”
11:59: Gloria Borger predicts the Pennsylvania Democratic primary on CNN: “Mano a…woman-o. It’s going to be a huge showdown, it’s going to make the showdown in Iowa and New Hampshire look like small potatoes.”
11:56: Karl Rove breaks down the democratic race: “She’s now got people to begin to take a second look at Obama. And, as a result, we’re going to have a barn-burner of a contest.”
11:52: Another sign of FNC’s push to end the appearance of Clinton bias? Bret Baier cuts into Obama’s speech, saying, “Fair and balanced. We gave him exactly the same time we gave Sen. Hillary Clinton in her speech in Ohio.”
11:50: While Obama continues his speech, The NY Times’ Brian Stelter writes about The Strategy Room, and specifically the live feed. Apparently Rove is convinced that Clinton will win Texas vote and lose the delegate count.
11:38: Now it’s Obama’s turn — he takes the podium in Texas, and all three networks take the speech.
11:36: Tim Russert breaks down Texas on MSNBC: “If she wins Texas it’s an enormous night for her, if she doesn’t, I think the Obama people will say, ‘not so fast, let’s look hard at this delegate count.'”
11:35: John King breaks down the Texas showdown on the Magic Wall. “Call in the rocket scientists, it gets very confusing,” he says.
11:32: Fred Barnes on FNC says, “After tonight, she has a better chance to win.” Bret Baier has taken over on FNC.
11:30: Clinton finishes her ” not at all long-winded speech”(Keith Olbermann’s words). (Updated)
11:17: All three networks take Clinton’s speech from Columbus, Ohio.
11:15: Hillary Clinton takes the stage and the confetti is already dropping. CNN takes the intro, MSNBC talks over the live shot and FNC is in a commercial.
11:12: Alex Castellanos, the media strategist for the Mitt Romney campaign and now a CNN analyst, says that Clinton doesn’t want to win, “Her goal is to stop him from winning, and get to a brokered convention. And if you get behind closed doors with the Clintons in a knife fight, experience says you bet on the Clintons.”
11:11: FNC jumps out of the speech, as Hume and the panel discusses a possible Florida and Michigan re-vote.
11:09: FNC is the only network taking Clinton’s warm-up speech, from Gov. Ted Strickland.
11:07: Steve Brown at Clinton HQ on FNC, reports that Ohio is the state the Clinton campaign cared the most about, as he tries to speak over the loud crowd.
11:06: From an anonymous tipster: “On this Fox News stream you’ve got (Bob) Novak having computer problems trying to file his column, and Rove on his new MacBook Air talking about how much he loves it…just some great behind the scenes stuff.”
11:02: Jessica Yellin reports that Obama’s speech will come after Clinton’s and in “about a half hour.”
10:59: Andrea Mitchell says on MSNBC that Hillary Clinton, “will declare victory tonight.”
10:55: All three networks call Ohio for Clinton. Only Texas remaining, but the percentages right now are 49-49. MSNBC broke into commercial at 10:51, followed by CNN then FNC.
10:53: Anti-Clinton bias in the media? Brit Hume on FNC: “What has Barack Obama ever done? Particularly, what has Barack Obama ever done on a national level? Now he’s only had a couple years to do it, but nobody said you have to run for president after only two years, too.”
10:50: Some debate ratings gloating on MSNBC. “I can say this because I’m on the outside looking in, but your network, MSNBC, Keith, had it’s highest number ever in that debate,” says Brokaw.
10:47: “I’d just like to make some observation about John McCain,” says Tom Brokaw on NBC. He notes that McCain has not talked much about the economy in this campaign. “That will become an issue for him,” he says.
10:45: Martha MacCallum is talking blogs, apparently from The Strategy Room as well, according to the TV screen behind her.
10:43: “I don’t want to scare you with this,” says Bill Hemmer on FNC, as he lays out the rest of the states in play. “I expect to see you here for each and every one of them,” he says to Brit Hume. “You and that map is just irresistible,” says Hume.
10:39: Paul Begala doesn’t want to get the lawyers involved in Texas. “I always hate to get the lawyers involved, then we’ve got to get Toobin back in here, and on the air,” he says.
10:36: MSNBC shows an extreme close-up of the fake Texas on the fake map in the 3-D room, as Norah O’Donnell breaks down the exit polls. Impressive.
10:33: Back to the Strategy Room on FNC. “I’ve been calling it the Strategery Room all night, Karl Rove got me started down the wrong path on that,” says Brian Wilson.
10:31: Bob Beckel on FNC discussing a county in Ohio, and the importance of the results there. You can probably guess which one.
10:27: John King plays around with various counties in Ohio, and, of course, focuses as well on Cuyahoga County. One plug for tomorrow, as we discuss King’s Magic Wall — earlier tonight TVNewser met the creator of the wall…details tomorrow.
10:25: Olbermann as he throws to Chuck Todd, to discuss why Ohio is too close to call: “Twice before, while we have done this, suddenly it wasn’t too close to call.” He makes it through and Ohio is still…too close to call.
10:24: Keith Olbermann reports on MSNBC that Cuyahoga won’t be fully reported until 4:30amET.
10:21: Okay, it’s “Cuyahoga” County. Barone says that in 2004, the results weren’t complete until, “we got up the next morning.”
10:20: Michael Barone explains why FNC is “not even close” to calling the Ohio race for Clinton. So far, precincts have been mostly rural. “It really hinges on Cayahoga,” says Barone. We’ll look up the spelling…
10:18: Over on FNC, Brit Hume reports that not only are they not ready to call Ohio for Clinton, but they’re “not even close.”
10:16: Joe Scarborough takes issue with Howard Fineman’s earlier report about the “lack of champagne corks” (from 9:39) in the Clinton camp, essentially putting his report in with the anti-Clinton media.
10:14: Is Obama HQ outside? Either way, Lee Cowan‘s report on MSNBC is having some issues with the feed, and has to be dropped.
10:13: Fox News contributor Martin Frost, former Texas congressman predicts a Clinton victory in his state. “We’re not going to know this for a couple days,” he says. TVNewser will not be live blogging the entire time…
10:11: Lester Holt interviews a caucus-goer in Texas. “This was just the raw stuff,” says Holt, who’s live in an elementary school cafeteria.
10:08: Carl Bernstein on CNN says that he spoke with a Clinton strategist today who said, in dealing with Obama, “We’ve gotta mess him up.”
10:04: FNC throws to the velvet lounge known as The Strategy Room, where Karl Rove seconds Hannity’s thoughts that Huckabee will not be McCain’s VP.
10:01: CNN is loving that “1191” sign. They keep using shots with the sign in the background during McCain’s speech.
9:59: MSNBC reporting on their lower third that McCain with have lunch with President George W. Bush with McCain tomorrow before his endorsement of the nominee.
9:51: CNN reports on their lower third during the McCain speech that Sen. Barack Obama told McCain he looks forward to running against him. Hmm…
9:47: As Keith Olbermann calls him, the “presumptive nominee” takes the stage, and all the cablers take the McCain speech.
9:46: MSNBC’s Chris Matthews and Gov. Ed Rendell, chatting about the democratic race. “This is the greatest thing in history, by the way,” says Matthews.
9:43: Anderson Cooper on CNN, discussing the disappearance of Bill Clinton: “I saw him in the back of a pick-up truck talking to a small crowd. I don’t know if that’s what all his events are like.”
9:42: “If Hillary comes back, we could have two in one year,” says Hannity on FNC.
9:39: Howard Fineman is at the “listening post” on MSNBC. He reports a “lack of champagne corks” coming from the Sen. Hillary Clinton camp.
9:35: Sean Hannity on FNC throws some support behind the now-Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, in an interview with Brit Hume.