Election Night: The Good, The Bad And The... What Was Up With Diane Sawyer?!

Most Entertaining Performance By an Anchor Who May or May Not Have Been Drunk
The loopy behavior of Diane Sawyer was enough to get the ABC anchor trending on Twitter. Exhibit A(aaghhh!): Referring to her Good Morning America colleague Josh Elliott as Josh Edwards (which might make things a little awkward during ABC News' Monday morning meeting).

Best Map
Kudos to NBC for niftily laying down the electoral map on the Rockefeller Center ice rink.

Best Use of a Famous Building
NBC lighting the east facade of 30 Rock itself half red, half blue, then using color-coded window-washer rigs to tally the electoral vote, "bar graph"-style, was a thing of inventive beauty — even better than CNN's use of two spires atop the Empire State Building for the same purpose.

"Expecto, Graphicsio!" Prize
CNN used two snazzy, gigantic touch-screen TVs called The Magic Wall to explain just about everything — even when it wasn't really necessary.

Most Unexpected Hostage Scenario
As Fox News Channel (yes, Fox News Channel) began touting Obama's win in the wake of the Ohio projection, political consultant and onetime George W. Bush advisor Karl Rove didn't ask or suggest but insisted that anchor Megyn Kelly hike across the studio to the cabler's "Decision Desk" and poll each of the number cruncher's on whether the Buckeye State in fact went blue. Once it was explained to him like he was five years old, Rove conceded (some) defeat and maintained he was just "raising a cautionary note," that FNC was not "leading the pack just for the sake of leading the pack."

"I'm Not Sure How That Makes Me Feel" Award
CBS' Bob Schieffer using the phrase "Big Black Vote" while talking about polling trends in North Carolina.

Best Interruption
New York Times commentator David Brooks (discussing the rise of women in the U.S. Senate): "This is kind of a dangerous generalization...."

PBS anchor Gwen Ifill (sitting next to Judy Woodruff): "Well, we're here to stop you. Two women will stop you!"

Most Eye-Catching Election Accessory
In vote-tastic suspenders, Fox News Channel's Bob Beckel stood out among his red tie-clad colleagues.

"Better Safe Than Sorry" Prize
CNN waiting longer than any other cable news outlet (11:18 EST) to call the election for Barack Obama.

Presented Without Comment (Part 1)
CBS' still photos of the elderly used to illustrate its reporting about general voting trends in Florida.

Presented Without Comment (Part 2)
CBS' still photos of the elderly used to illustrate its reporting about general voting trends in Florida.

Presented Without Comment (Part 3)
CBS' still photos of the elderly used to illustrate its reporting about general voting trends in Florida.

The "What a Fun, Sexy Time for Her" Prize
ABC's Social Media correspondent Katie Couric kicked off her initial analysis of Facebook and Twitter with a double entendre: "You always remember your first time...voting, that is." (But sorry, KC — Lena Dunham did it first.)

Most Dramatic Makeover
Fox News Channel contributor Sarah Palin appeared to have been zhushed a few times since last we saw her; the former Alaska governor's giant hairdo and ultra-shiny lipstick made it hard to focus on what she was saying. Whether or not that was a good thing is a different matter altogether.

Best Gizmo-Commentator Synergy
Fox's Bill Hemmer manning a giant info panel dubbed "the Bill board."

Most Unexpected Pop-Culture Diss
PBS' Margaret Warner reporting from Romney HQ in Boston and noting the house band was jamming to the old-fashioned strains of "Mustang Sally." "This is not Paul Ryan's playlist," she added, cheekily.

Best Tagline
MSNBCs "The Road to 270"
("Campaign 2012" is looking extremely dry now, isn't it, CBS?)

Most Hysterical Commentary
As seen in the above screengrab, CNN posted some nerve-wracking percentages about two swing states around 7:30 EST. But what did the numbers really represent? Let's allow Wolf Blitzer to explain: "As we wait for more real votes to come in, we want to share with you what our exit polls are revealing... These are estimates that reflect the votes of the people we interviewed at select polling places that may not necessarily reflect the actual outcome of that particular state." Still, upon looking at said numbers, Wolf exclaimed: "In North Carolina... Wow! Look at how close it is! 49% to 49%." Seriously?

The Understatement of the Night
CBS' Byron Pitts noting that Richard Mourdock, Republican U.S. Senate candidate from Indiana, may have hurt his chances with moderates and women by declaring that in cases where rape leads to pregnancy, "that is something that God intended to happen."

Worst Manners
Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, chewing gum on camera though the early portions of ABC's telecast.

MVP
To paraphrase Lionel Richie, CNN's John King killed it all night long — spouting off stats from this election (and the past four!) about every county and every state across the nation. And he did it all while manning the network's tricky Magic Wall. Sure, not everything he said was crucial or necessary, but during the six straight hours we tuned in to his coverage, King didn't once let up, and proved remarkably adept at filling dead air. A total all-star.

MVP (Runner-Up)
MSNBC's Rachel Maddow ran a very tight ship, cutting off blatherers the millisecond she had a new state to call. (One burning question: Was Maddow's extra-smoky eye shadow a day-to-night look to carry her to post-results celebration (or mourning) parties?

Most Suspicious Commentary
CBS' Nora O'Donnell, reacting to footage of President Obama speaking fluent Spanish in a campaign ad: "I've never heard the president speak Spanish before!" To which anchor Scott Pelley chimed in, "Sounded like his voice! I think that may have been him."

Most Overused Buzzword
We call bull, er, something on use of the word "bullish" by CNN correspondents Candy Crowley in Boston and Jessica Yellin in Chicago when discussing the respective parties' attitudes about taking battleground states.

What were your picks for Best and Worst Moments from coverage of Election Night 2012? Sound off in the comments!