TV Networks Planning for a Short Election Night

This may be a case of counting chickens before they hatch:

Nation faces short Election Night

from Top Politico Syndicated Story by media@politico.com (Mike Allen)

Network news executives said they are preparing for an unusual Election Night challenge: How to be honest with the audience, and still keep them tuned in, if the race between John McCain and Barack Obama is effectively decided before most Americans have finished dinner.

After two elections in which the suspense went far into the evening (and, in the case of 2000, for 36 days afterward), the executives said they are contemplating how to manage their newscasts in the event of an Obama blowout — in which the Democrat’s victory would be obvious while polls are still open in most of the country.

Somebody hasn't been looking at the recent polls which are showing this a 2 point race nationally. Given the many factors that may tend to cause Obama to underperform his poll numbers, I don't think this will be a short election night at all. It could well be another marathon.