Have you heard the news?
Tuesday night is going to provide Americans with some important information. It involves control of one-third of our federal government. The legislative branch is what I'm talking about, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. The other two, the executive branch -- the White House -- and the judicial branch are off the radar.
This is a big night coming up. PBS plans to cover it with its usual thoroughness.
Here in part is how PBS profiles the coverage to be provided by the PBS NewsHour:
"On a historic night when pundits are talking the potential for party control of the Senate to flip, PBS NewsHour will wrap up the latest election returns, play excerpts from key victory and concession speeches and provide analysis and context for the votes across the nation. Gwin Ifill and Judy Woodruff will anchor the 10 p.m. special, with reports from correspondent ... Hari Sreenivasan. Hari will host a conversation with public media reporters across the country about the most crucial races of the evening."
Panhandle PBS will provide coverage of the national scene to viewers throughout the Texas Panhandle.
Don't expect too much news on the Texas results from PBS, given that the Senate seat being contested -- Republican Sen. John Cornyn is facing off against Democratic challenger David Alameel -- is virtually certain to remain in Republican hands. The same can be said of the state's House delegation, including the seat held by Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Clarendon, who's being challenged by Democrat Mike Minter.
But Republicans need to take control of six seats now held by Democrats. Just about every pundit, pollster and prognosticator in the nation seem to think the GOP is going to take control of the Senate when the ballots are counted. A lot of seats are being contested hotly in places like North Carolina, Georgia, Colorado, Kansas and South Dakota.
Then the issue will turn to how Congress -- the Senate and the House -- will govern along with the president.
Yep, we've got a big night on hand Tuesday. Look for PBS to be all over this exercise in representative democracy. Given predictions of a normally low mid-term election voter turnout, it's just too bad more Americans aren't taking part.
