Matt Buckler: Speedy start, but slow results night

Nov. 9—The fastest three minutes in television used to be the highlights package Chris Berman presents on "Monday Night Football."

What happened on election night Tuesday, knocked Berman off the first-place perch.

It took the Associated Press only three minutes after the Connecticut polls closed to declare Richard Blumenthal the winner in the U.S. Senate race over Leora Levy.

Three minutes? What took them so long to count the votes?

WTNH-TV8 anchor Dennis House explained to viewers that the Associated Press was able to proclaim the winner so quickly because of exit polling.

This was still Guinness Book material — they hardly had time to open the ballot boxes before the winner was determined.

The speedy Senate reveal was the exception, rather than the rule for the rest of the night. In this era of high-speed data, the results came across very slowly, like they were using dial-up Internet instead of the fiber-optic stuff.

That left reporters at the various campaign parties with not much news to report. The Pony Express used to deliver packages faster than the state delivered voting results.

Because most of the voting boxes were equipped with speed bumps, one final result wasn't decided when local television ended their election coverage at 11:35 p.m.

The 5th District Congressional race between incumbent Democrat Jahana Hayes and Republican George Logan was still too close to call. When coverage resumed at 4 a.m. this morning, the race was still too close to call.

Before the stations signed off, however, they did have time to squeeze in Gov. Ned Lamont's victory speech after ABC News and Fox News called the race.

Lamont's Republican opponent, Bob Stefanowski, however, wasn't convinced and said that he would win the election overnight.

Unless the nights are six months long as they are in Alaska, it's doubtful that he could pocket that many votes.

This was probably the most completely covered state election in history.

That's because stations used streaming, and the internet for election results — even though there weren't that many results to report, while the stations aired network programming.

Some of those streaming channels may have been difficult for the average viewer to find. That's because there are some people who think "app" is a short cut for appetizer and may be modern technology dropouts.

By using other platforms, however, the local stations gave viewers the opportunity to watch a prime-time night of politics if they wanted too.

Stations also employed expert analysts but the most effective pair were former lawmakers Joe Aresimowicz and John McKinney on WTNH-TV8, working alongside Tom Dudchik.

Because the pair are regulars on Channel 8's "The Capitol Report," the chemistry is there. And the insight is there.

Granted, there were times Tuesday they had their pom poms out when talking up their political parties.

But their commentary was a much-needed break from the news coverage and vote counting — when there were votes to count. After all, how many times can you watch Lamont and Stefanowski cast their ballots before you wave the white flag.

They also knew a lot about the General Assembly races. Granted, those races are only of interest to people in certain towns, and not the entire state. But the conversation was compelling.

Outside of the guest analysts, there wasn't much difference between the stations. Reporters were at key locations, but the local stations were at the mercy of the vote counting and were waiting for results.

At 4 a.m. Wednesday, they were still waiting.

Matt Buckler is television and radio editor of the Journal Inquirer.

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