Taking Back TV Election Projections

The latest from the Political Grapevine:

Calls for Kerry

After FOX News Channel projected President Bush the winner of Ohio on election night, the Kerry campaign called ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN, urging them, according to the Washington Post, to refrain from making the same projection.

But by that time, NBC had already called Ohio for President Bush. The other three, though, didn't call the state for President Bush until later Wednesday morning.

In the meantime, the President's political adviser, Karl Rove, called FOX News after we called Ohio, encouraging the network to call New Mexico for President Bush. We declined the request, and didn't call the state until the following afternoon.

Successful Election Season?

You might have thought that having added to their majorities in both the House and Senate, Congressional Republicans were quite successful this election. Not so, according to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The committee has sent a letter to donors saying "Republicans unleashed every weapon in their arsenal to deliver a knockout blow to Congressional Democrats. They failed! ... we successfully defended Democratic members of the House, losing only one incumbent outside of Texas."

Plett's Plight

The BBC is now criticizing one of its own correspondents, Barbara Plett, who said the sight of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat leaving his compound to go to Paris for treatment brought her to tears. But it apparently wasn't her crying over Arafat that was the problem, it was admitting to it. BBC officials call it a "misjudgment."

As for the report — in which she spoke of the old terrorist as a "symbol of Palestinian unity, steadfastness and resistance ... an enduring national symbol" whose life has "been one of sheer dedication and resilience" — there was no problem with that. The report is still on the BBC's Web site.

Moore Noise?

And the left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore, who had remained nearly quiet since the presidential elections, is now posting new items on his Web site, including this map of North America which joins Canada with the states won by John Kerry, and calls them "The United States of Canada." And as you can see, it combines the states won by President Bush into what Moore calls "Jesusland."

In a new message, Moore accuses the media of refusing to report that young voters turned out in record numbers, insisting, "I guess it is easier to simply repeat the same broken down clichés than it is to find out what the truth really is."

But while young voters did come out in record numbers, so did voters of all ages — and young voters made up about 17 percent of this year's voters — the same percentage as four years ago.

— FOX News' Michael Levine contributed to this report