TRIVIAL THINGS NOTICED BY A DEPRESSED ALL NIGHT US ELECTION WATCHER
1: In Lieu Of Anything Happening The BBC Became Convinced It Would Be A Draw
About three am GMT, when no new results had come in for about an hour and the various TV panels were clutching at straws at stuff to talk about, the BBC’s chief psephologist suddenly came up with a beezer mathematical wheeze. Based on a fair number of states going a particular(ly unlikely) way, it would be a draw.
Cue Peter Snow then using this model for the next three hours.
Much exciting discussion followed about what would happen (answer, Bush would win). David Dimbleby could not get this scenario out of his head, perhaps due to the British sporting love of a score draw. Even when the wrong results came in the draw scenario kept being brought up EVEN THOUGH IT DID NOT MATTER AND WAS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.
Still at least they did not call the whole thing for Kerry at 2am like the idiots over on the ITV News Channel (more of which later).