posted November 10, 2004 12:14 PM            

Note to the Democrats who run Viacom: It's time to flush Dan Rather, before he does even more damage to your precious bottom line.

Although the network leads the ratings with entertainment shows such as "CSI," its scandal-plagued "news" division lags behind NBC's and ABC's.

Today the ratings for election night were announced. The winner: NBC, which had the fairest coverage of the three. Recall that along with cable's Fox News Channel, it correctly called Ohio for President Bush long before the others; all called Pennsylvania early for John Kerry even though that state was closer.

"It was a big week for NBC News, which by a decisive margin was the network of choice for Election Night returns. The soon-to-step-down Tom Brokaw led NBC's "Nightly News" to an 11.4 million average (8.0 rating, 15 share), ABC's "World News Tonight" had 9.6 million (6.7, 12) and the "CBS Evening News" had 7.7 million (5.5, 10)," the Associated Press reported today.

Even though FNC is not available in the many homes that don't have cable and is still excluded from some cable systems, it scored 8.3 million viewers on election night, USA Today reported today - more than CBS.