Getting The VP Scoop -- How It Was Done

(From CBSNews.com -- Posted By Scott Conroy)

At 12:46 am EDT last night, CBS NEWS Director of Political Coverage STEVE CHAGGARIS hit "send" on his Blackberry.

He had typed out the subject line minutes before -- "CBS News can confirm BIDEN will be OBAMA's running mate."

While most of the country was asleep at that moment, the CBS NEWS BROADCAST CENTER in New York City came alive.

KEVIN HECHTKOPF, a CBS NEWS.COM producer, sent out an email alert to subscribers, CBS radio broke into their regular coverage, and television correspondent PRIYA DAVID took her seat in the anchor's chair to interrupt CRAIG FERGUSON's show to let the network's viewers in on the big political news.

All of this happened within ten minutes.

"Rightly or wrongly, it's one of the few things in the campaign that people have no idea what's going to happen, but it generates such a huge amount of interest," Chaggaris, who broke the news for CBS News, said.

"At the same time, we really wonder, is it going to be a game changer? People think it's going to be a game changer every time but it usually turns out it isn't."

Getting The VP Scoop -- How It Was Done

[Way to go STEVE CHAGGARIS! Another Ithaca Bomber out there in action! While you continue on the campaign trail, we'll be watching at home.]