| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
LOS ANGELES (AP) Even before the polls closed, cable news viewers could guess the ending of the California recall drama starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Making liberal use of exit polls Tuesday, some cable shows seemed to barely skirt agreements to avoid signaling an election's outcome while votes were still being cast.
On Fox News Channel's ``Hannity & Colmes,'' Sean Hannity noted during an interview with a Democratic California assemblyman that voter polls pointed toward a Schwarzenegger victory.
``This is it,'' Hannity said. ``Gray Davis is going to be out. Are the Democrats ready to work with Governor Schwarzenegger?''
Almost instantly after the polls closed at 8 p.m. PDT, all the networks projected Davis had lost the recall and that the actor would succeed him.
``This state has undergone a political earthquake,'' Tom Brokaw said on NBC.
Anchors Brokaw, Peter Jennings of ABC and Dan Rather of CBS all were in California for special reports on the election, but the broadcast networks stuck with entertainment programming during primetime. In California, however, the final network primetime hour was given over to local election reporting.
Cable channels, with time to fill, feasted on the recall spectacle as they had for months. With poll numbers and opinions abounding, the outcome became easy to discern before the polls closed.
At 6 p.m. PDT, NBC's Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert on CNBC talked about how exit polls show women split 47-47 on favorability for Schwarzenegger, indicating he wasn't badly hurt by accusations that he groped women.
MSNBC correspondent Davis Shuster, at Davis headquarters, noted the governor's somber mood in earlier interviews. Democrats at the headquarters were ``already talking about moral victories,'' Shuster said.
Chris Matthews, interviewing Russert on MSNBC, was already looking ahead to next year's GOP national convention.
``Do you expect Schwarzenegger will get a prime-time spot at next year's convention?'' Matthews asked.
``I do, indeed,'' Russert replied.
Fox News Channel, in a report filed about two hours before polls closed, quoted Schwarzenegger's campaign as saying a majority of voters, 57 percent, were backing Davis' recall.
Larry Rosin, president of Edison Media Research, which with Mitofsky International was conducting exit polls for TV stations, networks and newspapers, said subscribers know the rules about using polling data.
They are expected to abide by an agreement barring the release of any information that could characterize the outcome while polls are open, Rosin said.
That reflects a ``handshake agreement'' the networks reached with Congress after the 1980 presidential race was called on national TV for Ronald Reagan while Californians were still voting.
MSNBC's ``Hardball with Chris Matthews'' reported a poll figure on Davis' low approval rating among voters. ``We're being very careful in terms of what data we're using,'' said MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines, excluding anything that would reveal the outcome.
Fox News Channel said it was using no subscriber data in its reporting.
Fox News Channel's Greta Van Susteren marveled at only the second gubernatorial recall in U.S. history, asking if it was the tripling of the vehicle registration fee and Davis' backing of driver's licenses for illegal immigrants that sealed his fate.
Larry Elder, a conservative syndicated talk show host, called the recall a cautionary tale.
``This is anger. This is people being overtaxed, over-regulated,'' Elder told MSNBC's Matthews. ``I'm hoping this is an object lesson to the other 49 states.''
^ =
AP Television Writer David Bauder contributed to this story.