Maybe it did all come down to Ohio--again. At least that's what it felt like at the Fox News Channel studios on Election Night.
Brit Hume, FNC's droll political anchor and D.C. managing editor, and Karl Rove, infamous Republican operative, left their anchor seats for a standup in front of FNC's giant touch screen. At 9:18 p.m., in the middle of Rove's deconstruction of precinct data, Hume broke in: "Guess what, Karl? The state of Ohio has gone to Barack Obama."
With Pennsylvania called for Obama at 8:29 p.m., a second Rust Belt battleground state falling to the Democrat delivered the deathblow to John McCain.
"It will be very difficult for [McCain] to get to 270," said Hume in one of the classic understatements of the evening.
The woman manning camera 1 quietly clapped. "It's over," said a soundman to no one in particular, a gleeful half-grin covering his face.
Obama's historic march to victory had begun. And here in the campaign-central offices of Fox News, on this most long-awaited night, one could also sense the start of a new era at the network. Change was coming to FNC--and contrary to any knee-jerk notions, it was not necessarily unwelcome.