Projections, conventional wisdom, and flashy graphics: the cable news network were up to their usual hype and tricks as soon as the first polls closed.
"Too early to call", claimed MSNBC about the Ohio Senate race with... 0% of the results tallied - just about 10 000 thousand votes, as a matter of fact.
The political parties were doing just as well, spinning away and arguing about voter intimidation all afternoon. The republicans jumped to be the first to claim irregularities - in the Santorum race in Pennsylvania. His defeat would deprive the Village Voice readers of one of their favorite pastime (popularizing the particularly vulgar alternate definition of the conservative's name, now the first item to appear as one googles the word). Vocabulary games have been very unkind to republicans this season, as George Allen of "macaca" fame can attest.
Now word games are done. Electoral maths and stats are taking over the screens. The networks were projecting as soon as 8:35 PM Bob Menendez's victory in New Jersey, a seat the democrats had to hold if they hoped to conquer the Senate.