If you're working election night, start preparing now

It is generally accepted that election night is the "Super Bowl" of the news business. If you're anchoring, you're often flying without a net, not knowing what's coming up next on the monitor while the crutch of a teleprompter isn't much help.

It's during election night that your worst flaws or best features are exposed.

I've seen election night newscasts go down in flames because anchors aren't prepared, they don't know anything about politics, or both.

On one occasion our anchor apparently got it stuck in her mind that the name on top of the graphic was the winner. In reality, the Democratic candidate was at the top of every graphic. So, on that election day, Democrats won every single election even though the numbers obviously showed otherwise.

I've seen other people butcher tough names, tell viewers that State Senators were headed to Washington instead of the state capital, and fail to know who the incumbent is in a race.

Nothing tells a viewer you're stupid more than a bad election night performance. And this year's election may be one of the most watched ever.

So, how can you be at the top of your game in November? It's just like getting to Carnegie Hall. Practice, practice, practice.

First, start reading everything you can about politics, both locally and nationally. Know the people, know the issues, know the rules. If the Democrats lose the house, how is a new Speaker chosen? And if it is that Boehner guy, how do you pronounce his name and what state is he from? Do you know what redistricting means? Gerrymandering? What's a poll watcher?

If you're anchoring, you'll need to go old school. You need to make up old fashioned flash cards for each candidate. You may have to fill time waiting for a live shot or a graphic to come up, and if you have some info handy you'll sound like you know what you're talking about. Your flashcard might look like this:

Joe Politician
Democrat
Incumbent, 3rd District, elected in 2004
Occupation: Lawyer
Married, two kids. Wife is a school teacher. Oldest son plays minor league baseball.
Parents ran a restaurant and he put himself through college waiting tables.
Introduced legislation on school prayer, proposed corporate tax cut in 2006

So, now if you're about to toss to a reporter covering this race and you've got time to kill, you can chat a bit about the candidate. "Joe Politician is seeking his fourth term. You might remember he introduced that controversial tax cut four years ago and has been a vocal proponent of school prayer."

Make up cards for everyone on the ballot. If it means you have to pick up the phone and call the candidates, do so. If you're new to the anchor desk, talk to the veterans on staff for some nuggets of information.

Then on election night, take your stack of flash cards with you to the desk and you'll be ready to roll. Of course, it helps if you familiarize yourself far enough in advance to that half of this stuff will be in your head already.

If you're a reporter, you might ask your ND right now what race you'll be covering. If you already know, start doing your homework now.

Read as much as you can, learn as much as you can. If you start preparing now, you'll knock it out of the park on election night.