Networks vow to be patient tonight

But the prospect of news organizations calling the race before all votes have been cast alarmed elected officials such as Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), who sent a letter to network executives last week asking them to refrain from projecting a winner until all the polls have closed nationwide. He argued that an early projection could depress voter turnout and affect other contests.

That's what happened in 1980, when the networks projected that Ronald Reagan had won the presidential election more than two hours before polls closed in the West. In California, officials said that decreased turnout by 2%, a key margin in some of the other ballot races.

Rick Davis, Sen. John McCain's campaign manager, said Monday that it would be inappropriate for the networks to project a winner while voters are casting ballots.

"You don't want them affecting turnout," he said. "I thought they'd have learned their lesson in 2000."

But David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist, said he thought the issue was moot.

"Given the long lines we anticipate, it may be quite late before they can even call the early states," Axelrod said.

Network officials said they were mindful of the influence of their reports.

CBS News spokeswoman Leigh Farris noted that the network would provide full coverage of Senate, House and gubernatorial races throughout the night and "will stress the importance of everyone going out to vote."

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matea.gold@latimes.com

Times staff writers Michael Finnegan and Maeve Reston contributed to this report.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Television coverage

At least 20 networks will be providing live coverage of results. Each news organization independently analyzes exit-poll results, turnout information and vote tabulation to call a state for either candidate. No projections will be made before the polls have closed in a particular state. Here is what some of the networks have planned:

BROADCAST NETWORKS

ABC: Charles Gibson, Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos kick off coverage at 4 p.m., followed by a special "Nightline" at 11:35 p.m.

CBS: Anchor Katie Couric, Bob Schieffer and Jeff Greenfield report beginning at 4 p.m., followed by a live webcast on CBSNews.com at 11 p.m.

CW: Regular programming, with most local stations providing two election updates each hour during episodes of "90210" and "Privileged."

Fox: Shepard Smith, on loan from the Fox News Channel, helms coverage beginning at 4 p.m.