Hell they all but declared Kerry the winner on election day based on the exit polls.
Everytime I think of Bob Shrum saying to Kerry, "May I be the first to call you Mr. President" I just roar with laughter. Those two idiots.
Oh yes, I remember that day and evening very, very well!
I voted that morning on the way into work. My polling place was not crowded, but was still seeing a brisk walk-in business. When I got off work on the drive home I listened to Sean Hannity who seemed very, very concerned. He was eagerly pleading with conservatives to get out and vote. I was troubled.
As the evening wore on I flipped through various channels but mostly stayed on Fox News. Juan Williams and Susan Ostrich were elated and the talk was about possible choices for a Kerry cabinet. Then Michael Barone came on and burst all their Kerry bubbles.
Michael simply showed that whatever the exit polls might of said, the results pouring in were far different. This was proved again and again as the night wore on. Fox and Michael Barone were the first (and only that night) that speculated that the exit polling might have been wrong.
The rest of the media was looking for some last gleam of hope for the Kerry campaign. I stayed up way too late just to watch and see if Dan Rather, Tim Russert, and Georgie Stephanopolus would actually start crying!