John King ...

By Jennifer J. Foster

... just said something that made me laugh.

Breaking down the results in North Carolina, King gestured to the western portion of the state and said of Barack Obama, “It will be interesting to see how he does out here in rural white land.“

The sensitivity about race combined with the pressure of live TV sometimes make people say stupid, funny or just plain strange things—and that’s why this statement from King will make a few lowlight reels.

Strange, but true!

By Jennifer J. Foster

CNN has called North Carolina for Barack Obama, but its raw vote tally shows Clinton with a 20 percentage point lead.

Strange, isn’t it? That shows you how much the networks rely on their exit polling.

FYI, the current tally is Obama, 870; Clinton, 1,323.

Black vs. white votes in North Carolina

By Jennifer J. Foster

For all the sound and fury about the black vote in North Carolina—and Obama won 91 percent of it to Clinton’s 6 percent—substantial numbers of white voters supported him, as well, the Rev. Wright controversy notwithstanding.

Bill Schneider points out that because the black vote made up about 36 percent of turnout, Obama’s victory wouldn’t have been possible without a good chunk of white support.

A black candidate against a female candidate: Whom to support?? The pundits are abuzz about the split in the Democratic Party among these two demographics.

Obama wins NC

By Jennifer J. Foster

It’s over in North Carolina, and the polls have been closed about a minute.

This bolsters Obama’s argument that he is like a Timex: He can take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’.

It’ll be interesting to see what the final spread is in the Tarheel State. Because of the number of delegates at stake, Hillary can’t afford to lose by double digits.

To that point, Jeffrey Toobin says that because of the number of delegates up for grabs in NC, even if she wins in Indiana, Hillary is going to be deeper in the hole at the end of the night than she was when it started.

Top five best pundits

By Jennifer J. Foster

There are positives and negatives to listening to election results on cable news. You make tradeoffs, grudgingly accepting the presence of the annoying, insulting blabbermouths and ignoring their remarks while waiting on the smart people to get another turn.

Here are my personal top five:

Gloria Borger: Brilliant and flawless, her background as a journalist lends incredible perspective to her political analysis. I love listening to her.
James Carville: He is known as The James. What more can I say?
Donna Brazile: A former Clinton Administration official,she’s a no-nonsense, bottom-line pundit who makes no bones with her analysis. She cuts through the mess and won’t hesitate to call a fellow pundit when the you-know-what gets too deep—which is often, especially when the Worst 5 are around.
Jamal Simmons: A spokesman for Barack Obama, his unflappability is his best quality. No matter what, you can’t upset Jamal. He is an eloquent professional and the best among the presidential candidates’ emissaries.
Kirsten Powers: She’s a combination of Donna Brazile and Jamal Simmons. Intelligent, assertive and well spoken, she’s one of the best pundits the Democrats have.

Honorable mention: John King. Incoming election results and all the spin can blur the mind of even the keenest political armchair quarterback. The fog is cleared when the words are translated into pictures. Enter King and the Magic Wall. He engages the visual learners among us and delivers the news on a platform anyone can understand. That’s key during an election that has drawn record numbers of people—including plenty of political newbies—not only to the polls, but also to the intrigue of elections.

In a few minutes, the top five pundits to mute when you see their mugs.