Political junkies like myself still have a refuge for watching political coverage, however. Thanks to CNN and C-SPAN, even the most avid political junkie can get their fix on election night results. These results won¹t just be for the races in their local congressional district or state either. They will be from all over the country.
CNN begins their election night coverage at 2 p.m. (PST), even before the polls have closed. Bernard Shaw, Judy Woodruff and Jeff Greenfield will anchor the coverage.
Other people contributing to CNN¹s election night coverage will be former White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry and Tony Blankley, former Press Secretary to Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. Among the many others covering Election Œ98 for CNN will be White House Correspondent Wolf Blitzer and foreign correspondent Christiane Amanpour.
Exact schedules for C-SPAN and C-SPAN2 weren¹t available at press time but they will have their usual extensive coverage, including call in shows and updates on all of the congressional election results. A major focus of their coverage will be on the entire membership of the House of Representatives and one third of the Senate who are up for reelection.
The results will be important for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that the new congress will be the ones conducting the impeachment hearings and possible impeachment trial of President Clinton.
Those who dislike politics will have plenty of alternative viewing choices to make. Local stations will run movies and other special programming to appeal to these viewers. For better or worse, they will get better ratings than the election night coverage will get.
This Week In TV History: November 3, 1978: DIFF¹RENT STROKES premieres on NBC. The comedy starred Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges as two young African-American boys from Harlem who went to live with the white wealthy Philip Drummond (Conrad Bain). This is because their mother, who was Drummonds¹ housekeeper, passed away. Drummond welcomed the boys into his home with open arms and raised them together with his daughter Kimberly (Dana Plato). The show lasted until 1986 and was a major hit for NBC. The series even spawned a successful spin-off, FACTS OF LIFE. Unfortunately, real life was not kind to the young stars of DIFF¹RENT STROKES. All three children (Coleman, Bridges and Plato) had major troubles with the law.
