November 6th 1968- One of the closest elections in history occurs. The night is a long one for all three men, Reagan jumps to an early lead due to McCarthy splitting the Liberal vote and winning DC and Minnesota.
The first TV network to declare a winner was ABC who called the race for Reagan. The third place network used the league of women voters to compile votes. NBC was the second network to declare, but had Kennedy winning. CBS stayed Neutral until the next day.
November 7th 1968- The winner was declared at 3:00 eastern time when Reagan was declared the winner after winning Wisconsin and Ohio, the two closest states.
Reagan/Rhodes- 283Kennedy/Yarbourgh- 248McCarthy/King- 7 In his Victory speech, Reagan pledged to bring the country together. He also reached out to Senator Kennedy, hoping to work with him in the future.
Senator Kennedy was grateful at the loss, but was angry at McCarthy. "Senator McCarthy has spoiled the election." He pledged to work with President Reagan in the future.
ABC News gained viewers thanks to the call for Reagan, while NBC lost ground due to the bad call. This began to shift the network news ratings.