Polls are now closed in Alabama, where voters are electing a new US senator. Follow along for live updates https://t.co/P0ltsDkt2r https://t.co/KUaVkM9UU0
— CNN (@CNN) December 13, 2017
Tuesday’s Alabama Senate election — a potentially historic battle between Republican Roy Moore (and his horse, Sassy) and Democrat Doug Jones — was guaranteed to be a close race. As such, viewers are settling in for a long ride while outlets like New York Times and CNN are racing against each other to see who can accurately call the most votes first. On CNN’s behalf, an abundance of caution is prevailing, but because this is a dramatic race, the network’s trademark “Key Race Alerts” are taking center stage. As a result, the so-far star of tonight’s coverage, Wolf Blitzer, popped into frame the second after polls closed to declare, “Too early to call!”
It was a comical moment, to be sure, but to make matters worse, Blitzer has repeated the statement several times over the course of an hour. And those viewers who are frustrated while waiting for results are rolling their eyes every time the “too early to call” line comes up.
https://twitter.com/rachwurm/status/940748592200978432
https://twitter.com/JohnAKeith/status/940752195926085632
Wolf Blitzer is truly terrible. Counting down the seconds til the polls closed (like results were instantaneous). Then! KEY RACE ALERT! …. "too close to call, with 0% in."
Oh my God. Stop.
— em dash aficionado (@imjacobnotjames) December 13, 2017
https://twitter.com/MollieReilly/status/940760336562642945
https://twitter.com/MattLiasse/status/940754226522853377
"I suspect we're going to see a back and forth for a while." –Wolf Blitzer
— Jack Shafer (@jackshafer) December 13, 2017
So. Much. Wolf. Blitzer.
— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) December 13, 2017
And of course, it bears another reminder that we’re in for a long night…
Wolf Blitzer just said Jones has "an impressive lead" over Moore right now. 2 percent of the vote is in.
Gonna be a long night.
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) December 13, 2017