Election Night 1988 timeline

[sg0508]

There are five videos posted from CBS's coverage of Election Night '88, up until the point right before the 8pm closing times.  Bush had 100 EVs at the time and Dukakis had none.

Anyone know how the calls went afterwards? I know MO was the winning state, but what was the timing of the calls the rest of the night?

[Liberalrocks]

There are five videos posted from CBS's coverage of Election Night '88, up until the point right before the 8pm closing times.  Bush had 100 EVs at the time and Dukakis had none.

Anyone know how the calls went afterwards? I know MO was the winning state, but what was the timing of the calls the rest of the night?

I wish there was more footage on youtube of this election night like they have of other nights particularly elections in the 90s to present. I was very young and was not old enough to really remember this election, 92 was the first I watched with recollection.

[old timey villain]

There are five videos posted from CBS's coverage of Election Night '88, up until the point right before the 8pm closing times.  Bush had 100 EVs at the time and Dukakis had none.

Anyone know how the calls went afterwards? I know MO was the winning state, but what was the timing of the calls the rest of the night?

I wish there was more footage on youtube of this election night like they have of other nights particularly elections in the 90s to present. I was very young and was not old enough to really remember this election, 92 was the first I watched with recollection.

what did it feel like to see a Democrat finally win and win big?? I imagine it must have been pleasantly surprising to see all of those previously GOP states go for Clinton.

[Liberalrocks]

There are five videos posted from CBS's coverage of Election Night '88, up until the point right before the 8pm closing times.  Bush had 100 EVs at the time and Dukakis had none.

Anyone know how the calls went afterwards? I know MO was the winning state, but what was the timing of the calls the rest of the night?

I wish there was more footage on youtube of this election night like they have of other nights particularly elections in the 90s to present. I was very young and was not old enough to really remember this election, 92 was the first I watched with recollection.

what did it feel like to see a Democrat finally win and win big?? I imagine it must have been pleasantly surprising to see all of those previously GOP states go for Clinton.

I was young in grade school, but I remember it being an exciting election because you did have 3 candidates. I remember the disdain people had for President Bush because of the economic downturn and there was such a sense that he was "out of touch" with the struggles of working families. My grandfather was an FDR democrat and big Clinton fan. My stepdad liked and voted for Clinton. My Mom voted for Perot. Only Bush votes I knew of were on my normally republican fathers side of the family but even they had been unhappy with Bush and there were a few perot votes there too.

Anyhow I would like to see more election night footage from 1988 Ive enjoyed watching the other nights that have been posted to youtube.

[AndyAJS]

I have uploaded some of the 1988 election night show from Britain's ITV channel on my YouTube channel (username = ajs41):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVUWSIOH0VM

[Liberalrocks]

I have uploaded some of the 1988 election night show from Britain's ITV channel on my YouTube channel (username = ajs41):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVUWSIOH0VM

Yes I had seen those, would be great to have more of the night as that doesnt cover much beyond the first few states closing on election night. Any ABC/NBC coverage anywhere?

[Siloch]

I watched some clips of the 88 election on youtube. I found it odd how they wouldn't call Ohio for Bush, they kept saying that "we can't make a call on such an important state like Ohio" but Bush easily won Ohio, he won 55 percent of the vote.

Those clips stuck in my head because the opening line from the news guy was "Bush is storming through the south like a tornado in a trailer park" which I thought was pretty funny.

[Mr.Phips]

I watched some clips of the 88 election on youtube. I found it odd how they wouldn't call Ohio for Bush, they kept saying that "we can't make a call on such an important state like Ohio" but Bush easily won Ohio, he won 55 percent of the vote.

Those clips stuck in my head because the opening line from the news guy was "Bush is storming through the south like a tornado in a trailer park" which I thought was pretty funny.

Exit polls always leaned Democratic back then.  There was an exit poll leaked earlier in the day that showed Dukakis winning the popular vote by a fraction of a point. 

[Benj]

I watched some clips of the 88 election on youtube. I found it odd how they wouldn't call Ohio for Bush, they kept saying that "we can't make a call on such an important state like Ohio" but Bush easily won Ohio, he won 55 percent of the vote.

Those clips stuck in my head because the opening line from the news guy was "Bush is storming through the south like a tornado in a trailer park" which I thought was pretty funny.

Forecasts (and commentators) were way less sophisticated back then, partially because it was a lot harder to crunch numbers quickly without computers.

[sg0508]

Keep in mind that the networks don't want you to change the channel so fast. So, they probably delayed the inevitable for as long as reasonably possible to keep the ratings up.

[Undecided Voter in the Midwest]

All I remember about that one was turning on the TV, seeing the map all red for Bush and turning the TV off again.

[SPC]

All I remember about that one was turning on the TV, seeing the map all red for Bush and turning the TV off again.

Your memory is probably off since the red-blue color scheme wasn't used in 1988.

(EDIT: Nevermind, you're memory would be correct if you tuned in to CBS.)

[Undecided Voter in the Midwest]

Call me crazy, but I seem to remember at least one network still using the atlas colors as late as 1992. I remember changing the channel and seeing a map that was nearly all red, and I freaked out (I was a big Clinton supporter at the time) before I realized they were using blue for GOP and red for Dems.

[sg0508]

The networks called Ohio minutes after the top of the 8 o'clock hour; Illinois was called for Dukakis probably between 8:30 and 9:30 PM on the east coast. The Florida senate race was called for McKay early on (both florida senate and illinois president would be retracted).

So, the networks blew the IL call? I didn't know that.  I thought IL was simply uncalled until early the next morning. I remember watching some NBC Clips where WA and IL were the two undecided states around 3am that morning when the coverage ended. 

[Mr.Phips]

The networks called Ohio minutes after the top of the 8 o'clock hour; Illinois was called for Dukakis probably between 8:30 and 9:30 PM on the east coast. The Florida senate race was called for McKay early on (both florida senate and illinois president would be retracted).

So, the networks blew the IL call? I didn't know that.  I thought IL was simply uncalled until early the next morning. I remember watching some NBC Clips where WA and IL were the two undecided states around 3am that morning when the coverage ended. 

Washington was the last state to be called that had not previously been called. I know for a fact that Illinois was projected for Dukakis about an hour or so after the polls closed in the state.

The network projections were all messed up that night.  Maryland was called for Dukakis a few minutes after the polls closed there when Bush ended up winning by three points.  Washington was called for Bush and then retracted and given to Dukakis.  Even Iowa was called for Bush at one point by one of the networks when Dukakis ended up winning by double digits. 

In the Senate races, Montana was called for Conrad Burns with only about 20% reporting and Charlie Cook was on C-Span and called the call "sketchy". 

[DS0816]

I watched some clips of the 88 election on youtube. I found it odd how they wouldn't call Ohio for Bush, they kept saying that "we can't make a call on such an important state like Ohio" but Bush easily won Ohio, he won 55 percent of the vote.

Those clips stuck in my head because the opening line from the news guy was "Bush is storming through the south like a tornado in a trailer park" which I thought was pretty funny.

I can only guess there's something precious about Ohio in the fact that it's performed five points from the national margin in every presidential election since 1964, they year its unbroken streak (13 of the last 13 including 2012) election cycles.

[Liberalrocks]

I was too young to remember this election night. After reading about all these miscalls during the coverage now I REALLY WANT TO SEE FOOTAGE.?!!!
 I wish more footage was available on you tube as other election nights.