Blitzer, Team of Anchors, Analysts to Lead CNN’s ‘Election Night in America’

CNN Pressroom - After more than a year and a half of debates, primaries and political rallies, the U.S. presidential election will culminate on Tuesday, Nov. 4, with live, comprehensive programming and in-depth analysis across the powerful resources of CNN Worldwide platforms.

CNN’s “Election Night in America” coverage begins at 6 p.m. (ET) – one hour before the first polls close – with Wolf Blitzer leading the Best Political Team on Television along with Campbell Brown and Anderson Cooper from the Election Center headquarters in New York.

As he has throughout most of this presidential election cycle, chief national correspondent John King will use the latest technology as well as his reporting from every battleground state of this campaign to zero in on hotly contested states and provide analysis – down to a county-by-county level – to explain CNN’s projections in each state. Using CNN’s “Magic Wall” and a 3-D, 6-foot-long virtual U.S. Capitol, King will break down data about the presidential race and report on updates to the House and Senate balance of power.

In addition, Soledad O’Brien and Bill Schneider will, for the first time, showcase exit-polling data simultaneously from all 50 states with demographic comparisons. By using two 103-inch interactive plasma screens, the team will display a state-by-state breakdown of polling data according to any number of demographic and political groups. The new way of presenting polling information will allow viewers to compare how others in their state voted compared to those in different states.

Throughout the evening, senior analysts Gloria Borger, David Gergen and Jeffrey Toobin and political contributors Paul Begala, Bill Bennett, Donna Brazile, James Carville, Alex Castellanos, Amy Holmes, Roland Martin, Ed Rollins, Hilary Rosen, Leslie Sanchez and Tara Wall will provide analysis and commentary. CNN political correspondents Candy Crowley, Suzanne Malveaux and Jessica Yellin will report live throughout the evening from Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign headquarters in Chicago, while correspondents Dana Bash and Ed Henry will be on the ground at Sen. John McCain’s headquarters in Phoenix. In addition, CNN correspondents will be on the ground reporting from key battleground states.

Adding to what promises to be one of the most technologically advanced events in CNN’s 28-year history, CNN will enhance interviews with remote correspondents and guests using hologram projection. The network has built sets powered by hologram technology at both campaign headquarters making it possible to project three-dimensional images into the Election Center. From the New York set, anchors will exhibit more natural conversations with newsmakers and CNN correspondents in the field by interacting in real time with their 3-D virtual images.

CNN Programming Pre- and Post-Election Day

Amid CNN's multi-platform coverage, anchor Lou Dobbs will provide his independent perspective on this pivotal election. Special editions of Lou Dobbs Tonight will air live on Headline News on Monday, Nov. 3, and Tuesday, Nov. 4, at 9 p.m. (ET).

CNN’s live pre-Election Day coverage begins on Monday, Nov. 3, at 6 a.m. and will continue through Thursday, Nov. 6. On Monday evening, CNN’s prime-time coverage kicks off with Campbell Brown: No Bias, No Bull and includes two live hours of Anderson Cooper 360° followed by a live midnight airing of Larry King Live. CNN/U.S. will remain live from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m., at which time American Morning with anchors Kiran Chetry and John Roberts will begin its Election Day coverage. On Wednesday, Nov. 5, American Morning will follow-up on the election news of the day before beginning at 3 a.m. (ET)

CNN Coverage of Voter Irregularities:

On Election Day, CNN will assemble “go teams” of correspondents and producers who will report on breaking election news and voting irregularities. Throughout the day, CNN’s Ali Velshi will anchor reports on voting irregularities from the “go teams,” and legal experts will track and analyze such issues across the country.

As announced earlier in the month, CNN launched the Voter Hotline at 1.877.GOCNN08 (877.462.6608) to assist voters in reporting any problems or irregularities noticed at the polls. To date, the hotline has received more than 15,000 calls with the expectation to handle hundreds of thousands of calls by Election Night.

CNN.com Election Coverage:

As the premier online destination for Election Day coverage, CNN.com will showcase real-time election coverage and live results for national and state races, detailed exit-polling data, video and audio feeds, photo galleries and games. Users can customize their online experience by selecting the races they most care about and viewing results by state and county, as well as scorecards, maps and live streams of speeches.

CNNPolitics.com, the site’s political news gateway, will feature complete coverage and analysis as the results are tallied. Members of the Best Political Team will share their insights on the Political Ticker, the Internet’s No. 1 political news blog according to Nielsen Online. Also, through The Forum, CNN.com’s destination for social and political self-expression, users are empowered to engage in real-time discussions with other registered members and invite their Facebook friends to join in the conversation through the recently launched Facebook Connect.

CNN.com Live will stream “Election Night in America” in its entirety, plus provide real-time election results and commentary from CNN analysts, contributors and correspondents. Throughout the day, CNN.com Live anchor Melissa Long will co-anchor a live Election Special from the CNN Election Center in New York with various guests, contributors and members of the Best Political Team on Television. As results start coming in, CNN.com Live will have special Election Night coverage with Long from New York and Reggie Aqui, Naamua Delaney and Nicole Lapin from CNN Headquarters in Atlanta. CNN.com will also offer users the ability to watch past candidate speeches online through video on-demand, CNN.com Live and full text transcripts.

CNN Grill/Times Square Viewing Party:

Building upon the success of the CNN Grills at both conventions as well as 2006’s “CNN Election Nite Blog Party,” the network will open a CNN Grill inside the Time Warner Center Park Café from 6 p.m. to midnight (ET). Internet reporter Abbi Tatton will report live for CNN.com Live from the Grill throughout the night. Comments from bloggers in the Grill will post at CNN.com.

Also on Election Day from noon to midnight, CNN will hold a viewing party in Times Square in conjunction with the Times Square Alliance. The public, on a first-come, first-served basis, will be able to view CNN’s election coverage on Spectacolor HD, ClearChannel Spectacolor’s digital display, located at the corner of 47th Street and Broadway. Similar viewing events for Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama’s nomination acceptance speeches attracted more than a thousand spectators to the heart of Times Square.

CNN’s International Coverage:

Viewers from around the world also will also have the opportunity to follow the U.S. presidential election as CNN International simulcasts many hours of CNN’s non-stop coverage. The network has teams in place in more than 32 countries with correspondents in Obama’s ancestral home town in Kenya as well as in Iraq, Israel and key capitals of Europe, Asia and Latin America. CNN en Español also will provide rolling coverage of America Votes 2008. In addition, CNN-branded global networks and digital services such as CNN IBN in India, CNN Turk in Turkey, CNN+ in Spain and CNNArabic.com, CNN’s Arabic language Web site will provide on-going coverage of “Election Night in America.”

CNN Radio/CNN Newsource/CNN Students News:

CNN Radio will have continuous anchored Election Night coverage by CNN Radio Capitol Hill correspondent Lisa Desjardins and CNN anchor Kyra Phillips. It will be available to CNN Radio affiliates worldwide and streamed online at CNN.com beginning at 7 p.m. (ET). CNN Radio correspondent Jim Roope will report live from McCain campaign headquarters and CNN Radio correspondent Amanda Moyer from Obama campaign headquarters. Also contributing will be CNN Radio correspondents Steve Kastenbaum, Ed McCarthy and Dick Uliano along with members of CNN’s Best Political Team on Television. CNN Newsource will provide its affiliates access to custom reports from correspondents Kate Bolduan and Sandra Endo and RunningMate correspondent Samantha Hayes.

The day after voters head to the polls, CNN Student News will focus on the last-minute campaigns and voter turnout and present the results of the presidential and congressional elections at its regularly scheduled programming time. Teachers, parents and students can visit CNN Student News for election activities and discussion questions about the elections. The “Talking Democracy” link provides additional free content that focuses on election-related concepts, such as the right to vote, campaign finance and debates. CNN Student News is a 10-minute commercial-free program on Headline News at 4 a.m. (ET) Monday through Friday, streamed online at www.CNNStudentNews.com or as a free iTunes podcast.

CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.