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Election Night '84 - 9:03
9:03

“I think I’m spooked. I don’t want to call it.”
“We can’t let one mistake keep us from doing our jobs, we have to call it. These all look good.”
“Do they? How do we know?”
“We use our marks, we use our research, we use our heads and we make a decision, we’re getting paid to make a decision.”
“Yeah, but for how much longer?”​



It’s now just after 9:00 here on the East Coast and we at NBC News can project- confidently- that the state of Rhode Island has gone for Governor Lamm. It’s been trending more Democratic for years, the incoming results show Governor Lamm with a very strong plurality, we’re confident in our call. And now...do we have it? We do- yes, we are also projecting two states for Senator Buckley, in Louisiana and Oklahoma. Oklahoma, his first state outside of the South tonight.


Anderson: 23
Buckley: 54
Lamm: 22

This is really close to an optimal performance for Mr. Buckley, who I don’t think anybody expected to be leading the electoral college at 9 PM, and one has to wonder if his campaign’s strategy of, “hanging the election,” so to speak, might come to pass.

It’s certainly not out of the question, though presently there are enough outstanding states that any of the three candidates might have a viable path to victory. That’s a question that hasn’t really come up recently; based on what we’ve seen tonight, is it possible for James Buckley to win the presidency?

I think only mathematically, Tom. Even at his best he’s not playing a 50-state strategy. He’s had to abandon too many of the big-target states like New York, Illinois, California. That’s 107 electoral votes right there. Even with a sympathy bump over his shooting he’s not expected to do well outside of the South, the High Plains, and the Mountain West, and there just aren’t enough votes there.

But he could still prove a very disruptive force tonight.

Very disruptive, yes.

And we’ll be right back after these messages.

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