Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.life From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Democratic superheroes vanquish incumbents Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 16:16:30 EST Message-ID: \SE D;LIFE;MEDIA STRIP \HD Democratic superheroes vanquish incumbents \BY Rod Dreher \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES Bill Clinton and Al Gore, the Dynamic Duo of the Democratic Party, biff-bang-kapowed their way across country last night like a double-Bubba Batmobile on a hillbilly back road. Herewith, notes and asides culled from witnessing the Democratic joyride on TV: SAINT GEORGE: The president was more graceful, natural and honestly upbeat in defeat than at any time in the campaign, in which the courtly George Bush felt forced to call his opponent a "bozo." He almost appeared relieved that the darn thing is over. He looked relaxed, the worry gone from his face. Vice-President Dan Quayle looked markedly more glum, but gave a gracious concession speech. "If he runs the country as well as he ran his campaign," he said of Bill Clinton, "we'll be all right." 10:47 EDT: That was the time CNN, NBC and CBS called the election, after Ohio fell for Clinton. WJLA, the infuriating Washington ABC affiliate, stayed away from the national feed, forcing its viewers to watch anchors Rene Poussaint and Susan King announce the results and talk with local analysts instead of George Will, Sam Donaldson and other commentators. One presumes ABC, like its competition, interviewed Clinton/Gore officials and victorious Senate candidates from hot races around the country, giving viewers information far more interesting than a rehash of the District's death penalty vote. WJLA finally rejoined the network at 11. THE LAST SLOW DANCE: Straight-backed squillionaire H. Ross Perot waltzed with wife Margot before giving a concession speech CBS called "very classy." Mr. Perot called the election for Bill Clinton before the networks did, and asked his supporters to give a round of applause to the President-elect. They declined. C-SPAN stayed with the Perot party long after the other nets left, giving C-SPAN devotees a chance to hear Mrs. Perot sing "God Bless America." Suffice it to say that the lovely Mrs. P. has as much a chance of winning a vocal competition as her husband does of taking a beauty contest. ABC'S DEATH STAR: In the set design contest, ABC won hands down. Its postmodern, futuristic design - walls of TV screens, vast, warehouse-like spaces, metal railings, catwalks - made the competition look like unimaginative cheapskates. The ABC studio, which the network called "our Election Night Command Center in New York," looked like the war room of the Death Star. If Roone "The Emperor" Arledge had given the order, it looked as if Peter "Darth Vader" Jennings had the capability to lock ABC's phasers on CBS and NBC headquarters across Manhattan and vaporize the targets. And zowie! How about that swell holographic? When Lynn Sherr gave polling results, she pressed buttons atop her desk, making transparent color bar graphs appear to rise out of the desk. WHAT'S THE FREQUENCY? Ever mindful of the need to create suspense, CBS anchor Dan Rather began early on to speak of "how an avalanche could - could - be developing" for Bill Clinton. Ol' Dano remains a reliably goofy phrasemaker. He said the evening's returns might "make the wax pop out of your ears." The pale, wooden Mr. Rather tried his shaky hand at Perot-like homespun joshing. When CBS called Georgia for Mr. Clinton early, the CBS standard-bearer said the Democrat was "rolling like a big wheel through the Georgia cotton fields." He described a Senate race as "hotter than a hickory fire." At 8:30, determined to ring the knell of mounting Bush doom, Dan declared the Republican ticket was "nearing the point of near-disaster." At 8:59, Mr. Bush was "hanging by a thread." "When we tell you [who the winner is] you can bet the baby's milk money on it," said Dan, earwax still apparently intact inside his aural canal. On the importance of Texas, the Sage of Black Rock intoned, "If it's not an enchilada, at least a huge taco." AN EARLY FROST: The networks may have been doling out their exit-poll projections piecemeal, but Tom Brokaw and the other anchors at NBC made it pretty clear early on who they thought the big winner was. A 6:30 roundup of reporters at the various campaign parties had John Cochran in Houston standing in front of an empty ballroom delivering a eulogy for Mr. Bush, and Andrea Mitchell in Little Rock with crowds of triumphant Dems cheering and running about in the background. BANG FOR THE BUCK: Comedy Central scored some points with Buck Henry in Arkansas. On a visit to Clinton's hometown of Hope, Mr. Henry observed that previously the town's best-known export was giant watermelons. Mr. Henry then observed that "Bill Clinton has always appreciated large melons." DEVOLUTIONARY WAR: Despite heavy hype on its election coverage, Washington's PBS affiliate, WETA-Channel 26, got off to a slow start with an insomnia-busting Nightly Business Report. But the station was in full swing by 8 p.m. There were a few technical glitches at first - sound equipment fizzled, cameramen maddeningly insisted on framing the people who were not speaking. But some astute observations were aired as well. Writer Richard Ben Cramer, author of a book on men who've sought the White House, made a point that the Republicans no doubt will ponder at their leisure. "The question," he said of the president, "devolves to: What happened to the man 90 percent of the country approved of? FAR OUT, MAN: MTV was blissfully cool about the election. The music video channel ran its usual fluff, adding a small inset reading "Vote today." In a short news item, rocker and political bantamweight Jon Bon Jovi reported that both presidential campaigns had contacted him, seeking an endorsement. His reaction? "Can you believe this?" WISDOM OF THE PUNDITS: * "This may look like a victory party...but it's more in the way of an Irish wake" - CNN's Mary Tillotson, at a raucous GOP rally in Indianapolis. * "Quayle in '96! Quayle in '96!" - raucous GOP rallygoers in Indianapolis. * "If you had 60 Democrats on the Titanic, they probably couldn't have agreed on whether to get off or not," opined irascible NBC News patriarch John Chancellor, disputing claims that Mr. Clinton will face smooth sailing with both houses of Congress in his party's hands. Susan Katz Keating, Tom Kelly and Laura Outerbridge contributed to this report. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. 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