What Was Going On With the Networks’ Calls?

Throughout the day yesterday, Joe Trippi–no Republican–repeatedly expressed puzzlement at the networks’ failure to call President Bush as the winner of various states. He would point out that Bush was farther ahead in some states, with more of the vote in and with the trend running toward the President, than other states that had already been called for Kerry. This was an anomaly that we noted and discussed throughout the evening. At one point, Joe said that it appeared the networks were trying to call states in tandem, so that the electoral count attributed to the candidates would stay approximately even, even though that meant not calling states for Bush when, under the same conditions, they would be called for Kerry.
Today, Logic Times assembles the data. There isn’t any doubt that a double standard was at work. For that matter, it’s still at work. Last I knew–I just took a nap after being up until 4:00 last night–New Mexico and Iowa were still being listed as “too close to call,” even though the votes were virtually all counted.
You can make your own guess about the networks’ motive, but about the fact of a double standard, there can be no doubt.