Al's Morning Meeting

My own experience as a reporter and, later, as a news director, has taught me that a well-covered rough-and-tumble campaign can shake out bad candidates and test solid ones for the term ahead. I don't at all mind reporting on the sniping that occurs in campaigns. That is part of the process.

But, as Election Day gets closer, I would raise the bar when it comes to what kind of sniping I would air. It is simply unfair to air new personal attacks and allegations days before an election, especially when they do not come from the opposing candidate. It is not unusual for third parties to appear at the last minute and make allegations about sexual orientation, sexual impropriety and criminal misdeeds.

Consider some of these questions when deciding what to run/air/publish online:

• Who is making the accusation and how do they know what they know?

• What motivation does this person have for making the allegations?

• What is the past credibility of the person making the allegations?

• Will the person making the accusations be named? If no, then why not?

• If you cannot name the person making the accusations, can you prove the information to be true?

• Why does the public need to know this information now?

• How does the information benefit the public?

• How would you explain why you aired/published the information?

• How would you explain why you withheld the information from the public?

• What does the accused have to say about the allegations? In what setting would you ask the question (public, private, in writing)? Would raising the question publicly add credibility to the allegation, even if it is unproven?

Election Night on TV

Networks are saying what they always say before election night. They want to be right more than they want to be first when it comes to calling races. It turns out there is also an unprecedented effort not to allow exit-poll data to leak out before the polls close.

The Washington Post reports:

The biggest behind-the-scenes change in network coverage involves what has been dubbed the Quarantine Room. Determined to avoid a rerun of recent years, when its exit polls leaked out by early afternoon to the Drudge Report, Slate and other Web sites, a media consortium is allowing two people from each of the networks and the Associated Press entree to a windowless room in New York. All cell phones, laptops and BlackBerrys will be confiscated. The designated staffers will pore over the exit polls but will not be allowed to communicate with their offices until 5 p.m.

The consortium, called the National Election Pool, is conducting no surveys for House races. The exit polling will take place for Senate and gubernatorial contests in 32 states with competitive races.

With nearly a quarter of all votes expected to be cast before Election Day, how will exit polls account for the attitudes of early and absentee voters?

The National Election Pool FAQ explains:

How do absentee votes affect projections?

In a number of states significant numbers of voters cast their ballots before Election Day. They either cast an absentee ballot or they vote at precincts set-up for voters in the weeks leading up to the election. These absentee/early voters cannot be included in the Election Day. Instead, they are interviewed by telephone shortly before the election. They are asked the same questions as voters interviewed in the exit polls. In some states, absentee voters will be sampled by telephone their results will be combined with those of Election Day voters.

Election returns may come in slower than usual this year. The Associated Press says, in a typical year, 5 percent of counties have new voting equipment at some of their polling places. This year, the number has grown to 60 percent.

Election Night Bingo

I am going to miss having Dan Rather around to cover Election Night. Some of my favorite Election Night Dan-isms included:

• "Don't taunt the alligator until after you have crossed the creek."

• "Play a verse of 'Johnny Be Goode' in Illinois for John Kerry."

• "George Bush is sweeping through the South like a Big Wheel through a cotton field."

• "Lookey here-whoo-boy at Florida."

• "This presidential race is hotter than the Devil's anvil."

• "Politics has gotten so expensive it takes a lot of money just to get beat."

• "George Bush's lead is as thin as November ice."

• "Only votes talk, everything else walks."

• "Never gamble with strangers and never vote against a Republican in Kansas."

• "Colorado -- when John Kerry wrote Santa Claus he was saying, 'Give me this state if you can, please.' "

• "Arkansas will be whoopee news down in Texas."

Since we won't have Dan to entertain us, I thought it might be fun to come up with a little game you can play while watching election results on TV tomorrow night.

Every time you hear one of these phrases, check it off your list. Some people no doubt will use this as a drinking game. That might actually help make some sense of the whole night.

If you have two people playing against one another, these are the game cards.

You must complete them all to win.

Player One:

• A real horserace

• Nip and tuck

• Red state

• Florida

• A "referendum on the Iraq War"

• God Bless America

• My fellow (fill in state resident descriptor -- i.e. Floridians -- or the word Americans)

• Campaign trail

• Liberal

• Stem cell

• Mark Foley

• Michael J. Fox

• Support the troops

• Control of the House

Player Two:

• Too close to call

• Conservative

• Exit polling

• Time will tell

• Ohio

• God Bless You

• Blue state

• A real nail-biter

• Back to you

• Gay marriage

• Speaker Dennis Hastert

• Osama Bin Laden

• John Kerry

• Control of the Senate 

The Political Compass

These days it is so confusing to figure out where you are on the political compass. Are you liberal, conservative, right, left, red state, blue state? Now you can use technology to self-discover.

Answer a short questionnaire, and the Political Compass will reveal your leanings.

We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.