Not as Advertised: MSNBC Goes with Taped Olbermann During 10 P.M. Hour on Election Night

November 4th, 2009 2:51 PM

It's probably safe to assume many Democrats weren't happy about last evening's election results, no matter how they spun them and how they pertained to President Barack Obama. And to his credit, that's something MSNBC "Hardball" host Chris Matthews admitted was not good for the Democratic Party.

However, MSNBC, the so-called "Place for Politics" hyped up its Nov. 3 "Super Tuesday" election coverage throughout the day (emphasis added):

"Tonight, Super Tuesday continues on MSNBC with live coverage of ‘Decision ‘09' inside the key elections that will set the stage for a 2010 political battle," the announcer on the TV spot said. "Follow the results on MSNBC's primetime line-up. Plus, special live editions of ‘Countdown with Keith Olbermann' at 10, ‘The Rachel Maddow Show' at 11 and ‘Hardball with Chris Matthews' at midnight. Super Tuesday continues tonight on MSNBC, the place for politics."

Only problem - Olbermann's 10 p.m. broadcast wasn't completely live. In fact, Olbermann didn't even appear in the live segments on the 10 p.m. broadcast of MSNBC's election coverage as the GOP was winning key elections in Virginia and New Jersey.

Viewers were instead treated to replayed coverage of Olbermann's earlier show, which included he and Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson discussing the so-called public option for health care, his infamous "World's Worst Segment," in which he told Glenn Beck to "go to hell," as reported by Noel Sheppard earlier and an 11 minute and two second segment about the "smartest plays" in the World Series - all of which was shown twice that evening.