Watching the election returns this year is making for stunningly bad television. So far, nothing has been called which was really in play. I suppose that the media is being ultra-conservative in their calls, in an effort not to repeat the mistakes of 2000. And I suppose that’s laudable.

Here’s a case in point, though. The last poll in New Hampshire closed nearly two hours ago. According to the exit polling data on CNN, Kerry won a commanding 55% of the vote in that state. With 34% of the precincts reporting, he is up 51% to 48%. Now, I don’t know the details about NH voting trends, but 55% exit poll numbers sounds like adequate evidence to call the state for Kerry.

So the question is: Are the media seeing something that we’re not seeing? Or are they just being ultra conservative? I suppose that only time will tell. So far, though, the results that they held in suspense (VA, NC, SC, etc.) have all gone exactly as predicted.