John King’s feverish “magic wall” act on CNN defined election night

A day after the US presidential election, several states are still undecided, as questions remain about when outstanding votes in certain places will be counted. But one thing was made clear, deep in the night on Nov. 3, in a CNN television studio somewhere in Washington, D.C.: John King is a machine.

The political analyst, who has served as CNN’s chief national correspondent since 2005, provided a nearly unbroken seven-hour firehose of electoral analysis, relaying results to viewers as they emerged. Around 7pm US eastern time, King assumed the position alongside the network’s “magic wall”—a touch screen that enables its operator to filter vote counts by the state and county levels and compare those to historical trends. He stood there analyzing this virtual map of the United States until roughly 2am, at which time his bosses at CNN may have permitted him to nap.

At 11am US eastern time today, King was back at the magic wall, looking no worse for wear.

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