-By Anthony Crupi

Barack Obama’s historic and decisive victory in the 2008 presidential election Tuesday night drew a national television audience of approximately 71.5 million viewers across 14 broadcast, cable and Hispanic networks.
 
According to Nielsen Media Research data, between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. EST, nearly 42 percent of U.S. TV households tuned in to watch the returns, in what would mark a record rating for a presidential election.
 
Although the outcome was all but academic once the networks started calling it for President-elect Obama at around 10:58 p.m., last night’s coverage easily beat out the drawn-out dénouement of the 2000 race, which drew 61.6 million viewers on seven national networks. (For the sake of comparison, at 11 p.m. on the night of Nov. 7, 2000, then-vice president Al Gore had racked up 230 electoral votes to Gov. George W. Bush’s 217. It wasn’t until 2:17 a.m. that Florida’s 25 votes put Bush over the top, a victory that lasted 1 hour and 41 minutes before the Sunshine State call was retracted.)
 
Last night, ABC drew the largest crowd, averaging 13.1 million viewers, while CNN took second with 12.3 million total viewers, the largest audience in the cable news net’s 28-year history. Third place went to NBC, which delivered some 12 million viewers over the three-hour span.
 
With an average 9 million viewers tuned in, Fox News Channel notched its second-largest audience of all time, behind the Oct. 2 vice presidential debate between Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin (11.1 million). CBS finished fifth on the night, with 7.83 million viewers, followed in short order by MSNBC (5.89 million) and Fox Broadcast (5.14 million).
 
For those looking for a humorous spin on the returns, Comedy Central’s Indecision ‘08: America’s Choice was the most-watched election special in the network’s 17-year history, drawing 3.1 million viewers.
 
When the 8 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ratings are taken into account––a time span that includes Sen. McCain’s 11:18 p.m. concession speech and the new President’s address to Grant Park at 11:57 p.m.––CNN won the night, with 13.3 million viewers, topping ABC (12.5 million), NBC (11.9 million), Fox News Channel (8.06 million), CBS (7.49 million) and MSNBC (6.36 million).