Fox News, meanwhile, featured the talking-head debut of analyst Karl Rove, who described delegate selection in such intricate detail that anchor Chris Wallace sometimes had to cut him off. For all of the attempts to explain the complex process, the horse race was simpler. So the coverage focused, repeatedly and constantly, on who was winning states and momentum.
This was dangerous business, given how long it took for Western and West Coast returns to come in. The networks were clearly chastened by their New Hampshire primary experience - when predictions of a huge Barack Obama victory turned out to be wrong. But last night, they still had hours of airtime to fill.
East Coast returns came in quickly enough to end some bouts of commentary, such as an early running theme, based on preelection polls, that Hillary Clinton's lead wasn't what it used to be. Instead, the main Clinton storyline of the night was her victory in Massachusetts - over the explicit wishes of Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Governor Deval Patrick. MSNBC's Chris Matthews, in particular, seemed impressed: "Hillary Clinton has avoided losing in Massachusetts by beating the Kennedys," he crowed.
On the Republican side, the story focused on strong Southern showings by Mike Huckabee, whom the media had considered an afterthought in recent weeks. "He's having himself a pretty good night, wouldn't you say, Bill?" Fox's Brit Hume asked panelist Bill Kristol early on, and Kristol looked pained as he mumbled his reply: "Huckabee will have a not-trivial number of delegates off of tonight."
The networks often fixated on the flip side of the Huckabee win: the increasingly sad fortunes of Mitt Romney. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow gushed, early on, about "the hatred of the other candidates for Mitt Romney. So much so that they'll work in cahoots to defeat him."
