Network and cable TV channels amped up the star power last night as presidential politics took over prime time. But in this age of rapidly expanding media, the news operations that did best where the ones that emphasized information and technology over personality.
First came the technology used on TV screens to help tell the election-night story visually - a narrative that could have been bewildering with 24 states in play.
CNN provided a font of fast-breaking information and clear-eyed analysis, particularly from correspondent John King, who pushed and pulled at a touch screen as he broke down states county by county, using an array of lines and colors.
It was mesmerizing to watch him play the board like a musical instrument as he analyzed obscure corners of various states for vote totals and offered predictions based on what he saw - sometimes down to the precinct level. For the most part, King stayed on top of the fingertip technology rather than letting it drive him as he sorted through a maelstrom of data.
MSNBC also had a political correspondent standing in front of an electronic board to break out vote totals and make predictions. But Nora O'Donnell was no match for King, who has been working his magic throughout the primaries and caucuses.
O'Donnell used a keyboard to mark up her color-coded map of the United States, but it hardly seemed like much of an advance over what the networks have been doing for three decades on election nights.
Fox had a better-looking board than MSNBC's, but correspondent Bill Hemmer's presentation was more about energy than insight.
Personality did matter last night, but in an inverse manner: the less of it, the better.
Among the worst moments on all three cable channels were those in the earlier part of the evening when grandstanding anchors Lou Dobbs (CNN) and Bill O'Reilly (Fox) injected themselves and their politics into the proceedings rather than moving from one source of information to another as Wolf Blitzer (CNN), Anderson Cooper (CNN) and Brian Williams (NBC) did so well.
The adolescent chortling between Dobbs and CNN political analyst Bill Bennett over GOP candidate John McCain's position on immigration and the mainstream media's coverage of it was in stark contrast with the journalistic integrity with which analysts Gloria Borger and Jeffrey Toobin carried themselves throughout the night on CNN.
While Bennett cheapened the proceedings almost every time he opened his mouth last night on CNN, former Bush adviser Karl Rove brought a genuine feel of inside knowledge - without any hot-dog rhetoric - to his new job as analyst on Fox.
And then there were the oversized network personalities joining the coverage last night. No one can be over the top like a network anchor .
"This is a big deal," ABC anchorman Charles Gibson told viewers at the start of its coverage.
"Big like a tsunami," co-anchor Diane Sawyer countered. "In fact, they are using the word 'historic.'"
Soon they were joking about a long night and having sleeping bags on hand - with Sawyer reaching out to touch Gibson's sleeve, as if they were back anchoring Good Morning America.
Beyond the wall-to-wall TV coverage yesterday, the cable channels and networks also beefed up their online offerings for the biggest primary election night in the history of TV-era politics.
In the end, though, one of the most powerful Web offerings was one of the most basic: a stationary camera at cnn.com offering a live look at a schoolhouse polling station in Los Angeles. As messy as the scene sometimes became with people standing in front of the lens and blocking the view of the classroom, nothing communicated the feel of the voting experience better.
david.zurawik@baltsun.com