Just got this e-mail from WBAY :

[flowomo]

That's the station in Green Bay that posted the election "results" on its website yesterday (showing Bush winning). I sent them a quick e-mail last night suggesting they'll be a national joke for a while for this "Bush League" mistake. Got this e-mail in reply today. Just thought I'd share:

The Associated Press runs tests about 4 times a week for a month prior to an election, especially one as crucial as a presidential election, to help TV stations and newspapers make sure their publishing systems are working properly (the irony doesn't escape me). The AP's numbers are random with every test; this article just as easily could have declared Senator John Kerry or Ralph Nader the winner. If you've read the article, it reads like fill-in-the-blanks and 9 percent of the vote is unaccounted for... That's a lot of smaller-party votes.
I learned about the article from a dailykos.com reader yesterday, immediately called our web host, and it was removed within 5 minutes. I then posted a correction and gave it more prominence than the original article (on our web site, anyway). Even though the test article appeared for 35 minutes, we're keeping the correction on our web site for a day; I think that's fair.

We use automated feeds of Associated Press national news, politics, science, entertainment, etc. If you see how much news we have on the site, you'll understand why we use automation (I am a department of one). Our filters catch countless tests, "for media only," "embargoed until..." and other messages that aren't for broadcast. The AP and our web host, WorldNow, are working together to find out how this article got through -- whether it was something in the article header or a glitch in the automated filters.

We're sorry that it happened, but we responded quickly and responsibly. I don't think it ranks up there with the eulogy for Bob Hope on the floor of Congress three years before he died because someone saw a story on the Internet.

Ted Miller
WBAY Web Manager
[phone] [e-mail]

[Guaranteed]

1. I did notice the nine percent unaccounted for...

but that doesn't explain why Nader got 1 percent of the vote. It can't be TOTALLY random.

[flowomo]

2. It is strange they had such precise numbers for a "test"

n/t

[billybob537]

3. Yeah but

what about the RED SOX?

[flowomo]

4. heh heh.... indeed.... let's keep our priorities straight....

These are glory times for us Boston fans -- Sox fer sure; Patriots on the way to legend status

[billybob537]

5. This time we get the trifecta

Kerry, Red Sox, and Patriots. I love that dirty water.

[iwantmycountryback]

6. The Red Sox are primed

for another loss to the Yankees in the ALDS. I can't wait. It's a shame though, the Yankees play at 8 tonight and the debate is at 9.

[grace0418]

7. Oh I think it's way worse

Bob Hope was very old and wasn't running the world as far as I know. This article is much more frightening, even if it was posted for ONE minute.

By the way, when I saw WBAY in the title of this thread, I thought it was a clever name for freeperland (like, instead of e-Bay).