ABC TV Goes Analog with Map Puzzle

As a kid, I had a puzzle of the U.S. Seems as if the producers of ABC TV had them too. As I watched ABC's The Early Show I wondered if they had taken a look at CNN's flat panel digital "magic map" and said to themselves, "Gee, I think we'll go in the opposite direction; no digital map for us...we'll use a puzzle!" Bad move. As I watched Harry Smith converse with a reporter from The New Republic about which states could move into the Democratic column this November, I couldn't help thinking this was a step "way backwards" from what other news media are using. Smith carried with him large puzzle pieces of the states of Florida, North Carolina and Virginia and placed them on an enlarged floor map on which they were standing. It looked awkward and anachronistic; something I would have seen from the days of Walter Cronkite. Come election night, ABC will have to think of a better way to display results if they want to keep up with their competition.