As I've sat watching the returns for a little over an hour it has seemed as thought what the talking heads were saying were not matching the numbers that were rolling by the screen. I'm watching Fox primarily, and the folks there have been starting to worry about Bush's chances based upon the exit polls and the slowness in calling obvious Bush states like Virginia and Mississippi. But what I've seen, as the numbers roll by, has Bush steadily increasing his lead across the board.
And now, Bill Kristol just nailed it. He speculated for the first time about whether or not there might be a systematic error in the exit polls based upon what they are actually seeing in the returns from the precincts where the polling was done.
Nothing has changed. Big Media has been drinking their own bathwater for so long they no longer realize that that is what they are doing -- even the folks at Fox. It's still Bush with 52% of the popular vote and 312 electoral votes from where I sit. And by the end of the week, the problems with the exit polls and why they were so wrong will be the big story.
DOWNDATE: Michael Barone is offering evidence now as well from Florida that the actual returns are breaking much more strongly for Bush than the exit polls indicate.