Yeah, I wish I knew more about what the reaction of DUmmies was, that night, when this showed up on their web-site. I'm hoping some long-time inhabitant here can illuminate the rest of us--I bet it was hilarious.
The shut down was due partly to the hacking and partly because they were in shock at the losses.
Remember this was just over a week since Wellstone died (his death blamed on Bush) and their precious early exit polls showed them doing well. By about 8PM that night, the networks gave up on exit polls because they were so bad.