Networks edging toward calling it...

Nobody wants to say it before all the polls close. But all the networks are hinting. My last few entries from THR's Election Day media coverage blog (where I'm contributing the CNN entries). 

9:05 p.m. ET Guess who just said this on CNN: "If this turns out to be the case -- President Obama -- we have just achieved an incredible milestone for which the world needs to have more respect for the United States than which it sometimes does." Bet you didn't pick William Bennett. Then, CNN's Jeffrey Toobin tries to one-up him: "The effect of an Obama victory -- if he wins -- on the international reputation of the United States will be so profound and so immediate I don't think there is anything comparable in American history." That, however, proves a bit too much for Bennett: "Winning World War II maybe," he grumbles.

9:34 p.m. "CNN now projects the state of Ohio will go for senator Barack Obama," says Wolf Blitzer. "A huge, huge win." Indeed. Unless, say, Oregon shocks everybody by turning red, or previous projections turn out to be wrong, mathematically Obama cannot lose.

9:42 p.m. -- Going live to the Mccain camp, it seems the Republican's victory party is firmly in the bunker. The mood among McCain's inner circle is "not very good," says correspondent Dana Bash. On stage, Hank Williams Jr. plays mournfully. Bash says McCain supporters are not aware of the media projections. "This has been a fascinating dynamic," she says. "They have turned off the news. Earlier when red states were going for John McCain, they did put it up and there were lots of cheers. Since this news has broken about Ohio, about Pennsylvania before that, it has not been announced here -- at all. There's a very solemn feeling here."

9:48 – CNN’s Campbell Brown and John King are at the touchscreen map. “I know we’re not calling the race yet,” Brown says, “but let’s have a reality check here. Show me McCain’s path to victory without Ohio.” There’s a pause. “O-kay,” King says and Brown laughs. “I don’t mean to be mean, but it’s very bleak,” King says. He gives nearly every remaining state on the map to McCain -- except the patently blue West Coast -- and the Republican’s total is still just 266, four electoral votes shy of victory. “I cannot get him to 270,” King concludes. “But please, God bless you, if you’re out here-“ points to the West Coast, “vote.”

Heading out to the Obama event in Century City...