You're in for a big surprise Monday morning...

"Michael Jackson called on Sunday recent leaks to the media about his child molestation case 'malicious...disgusting and false,' and said he expected to be found innocent of the charges," Reuters reports.

"In the last few weeks, a large amount of ugly, malicious information has been released into the media about me," Jackson said. "Apparently, this information was leaked through transcripts in a grand jury proceeding where neither my lawyers, nor I, ever appeared. The information is disgusting and false."

1,900 pages of grand jury testimony were leaked to, and reported by, ABC News earlier this month...

> CNN/U.S. is airing CNNI live coverage of the election in between Larry King Live repeats during the overnight...

> NBC trumpheted Brian Williams' "exclusive interview" with interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

> On FNC, Geraldo Rivera was shown wiping away tears as Iraqis cast their ballots. "I wish, for this one day, all of you could be here," he said.

> Dan Rather: "A lot went right with the just-completed first free elections in Iraq in half a century."

> FOXNews.com puts the day in perspective: "8 million Iraqis vote; 44 killed in attacks."

> The soft launch for Monica Crowley and Ron Reagan's new MSNBC show continued on Sunday: The pair hosted an hour-long show from 5 to 6pm.

Quotes from David Bauder's AP piece about mobile anchors:

> "The mobile anchor is also key to new chief executive Jonathan Klein's remake of CNN. "It's a way to personify the network's commitment to being on the scene of a major story," Klein said. "It's very important, especially in a fragmented media environment, that your network is present in a big way.""

> ABC WNT EP Jon Banner: "At the very core of what we do every night is convey stories of importance to the audience and nothing conveys importance more than when Peter shows up on a story." But: "Peter has a lot going on and we need to choose the times in which we travel wisely. We don't do it at the drop of a hat. We think long and hard about these situations."

> Light Seeking Light at 3am: "The lineup is very clear. CNN refuses to admit anything but problems; FOX refuses to see any problems; MSNBC is trying to discuss both."

> "It really is okay for journalists to be happy about seeing people vote for the first times in their lives," PoliPundit reassures.

> "It will be interesting to see if there's a clear shift in tone when CNNi hands the baton to CNN-US," an e-mailer said at 5:49am. Then at 7:05: "The mood on CNN instantly perked up once domestic CNN coverage replaced CNNi's."

> Johnny Dollar likes Geraldo's coverage: "It's times like this when you begin to think Ailes knew what he was doing when he hired him." He also says Shep's repoort on Sadr City and the tour of Saddam's bunker were great.

> MSNBC has been airing hourly segments about blogosphere reaction to the elections. "I'm impressed that a media network is giving this much attention to bloggers," Iraqi Elections Wire says.

"So far, I think the coverage has been moderately scandalous," Jonah Goldberg says on The Corner. "This morning CNN kept its regularly scheduled medical show (though last night they were better, if mostly pre-taped). The major nets seemed to treat this like a fairly ho-hum story. I just walked over to my computer after seeing that the Today Show was offering viewers a segment on new shaving technologies for men. Meanwhile, Fox is treating this like a huge, momentous, occassion. Given the contrast, I sometimes worry that the MSM media is becoming more biased simply because they define 'bad coverage' even when Fox is covering things correctly. It's almost as if NBC News would report 'this just in: 2+2 is 5' if Fox were reporting '2+2 is 4.'" I don't think it's fair to call the network coverage "ho-hum..."

At least Geraldo doesn't pretend to be objective. Johnny Dollar has transcribed some of Rivera's comments:

"They are casting their ballot for the first time. It was so inspiring. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in my entire life. It really is like the Berlin Wall going down in 1989. It really is like the beginning, like the dawn of the civil rights era, when black people could vote for the first time. It is the most amazing sight. Only a hard-bitten cynic, only a person with absolutely no upside to their feeling of optimism, could look askance at what is happening, truly happening today."

"...You folks who live in the United States who are watching this, just be proud. Be proud of this. This is amazing. This was inconceivable, wasn't it, during the days of Saddam Hussein. Look how far this country has come. It will heal its wounds. The terrorists are going to lose."

> Also: "This once-dictatorship, one of the most brutal regimes on earth, can join the family of civilized, democratic nations. I'll tell you folks, it is an amazing, amazing feeling."

"The press is being shut down by the US military. No one can move," an tipster said around 12:15am. But a cable insider in Baghdad tells us the shut down was planned well in advance: "We were all told in advance that nobody would be able to move without a military escort. There are embedded reporters moving with units on patrol and going from polling station to polling station. So, it's not that no one can move, it's just that all movements of the press are up to the military forces, and they are deciding where to take us."

Lots of insomniac bloggers are commenting on Geraldo Rivera's reports from Iraq this morning. As ninme puts it, "random people across the country, watching the same ebullient, mustachioed correspondent:"

> Decision '08: "I must say his enthusiasm as he broadcasts from Baghdad is quite contagious. Among his comments - 'Unimaginable under Saddam Hussein' - 'People in America should be proud' - 'The turnout is amazing' - 'This country will heal its wounds' - 'The terrorists will lose.'"

> Powerline: "By the way, this has got to be Geraldo Rivera's finest hour...Geraldo may not quite be a real journalist, but today it seemed to me that he was something more."

> Captain's Quarters: "Geraldo's emotions have overcome him, and he's not alone."

> The Great Nick Ball's Weblog "His comparisons to this event like the 'falling of the Berlin Wall' are right on."

Light Seeking Light has been blogging up a storm, covering cable coverage of the elections. Highlights:

> 12:55am: "Scarborough is doing a good job as anchor."

> 1am: Geraldo is waxing enthusiastic...He says it feels like the early days of the civil rights movement. Geraldo is about to burst..."

> 1:53am: "CNN is definitely trying to put the worst possible spin on things, even when the pictures on the screen show otherwise. They harp on and on about violence while the screen shows happy Iraqis singing and dancing. Geraldo's the other side. He admits the violence but again and again returns to the upbeat mood of the people he covers. MSNBC seems to be trying to split the middle..."

> 2:11am: "MSNBC is getting optimistic, FOX is exuberant, CNN is still wary, though."

"MSNBC leads in quality of coverage," TalkLeft says. "It's the only network that is spending as much time on what happens after the election as it is on the voting. And they are not just being cheerleaders, they have guests on who explain things like the legitimacy problem, how much Bush has riding on the election and how the conflict in Iraq is going to go on for a few more years, no matter what."

Some early coverage notes, as submitted by e-mailers:

> 2:12am: "Jim Maceda just reported on MSNBC with a flak jacket and a helmet from Ramadi, looking like there's a pending apocalypse. Now I'm not saying he's overreacting, I'm just saying maybe there's a better way to portray the situation."

> 1:38am: "Is Fox reporting any 'news' during its coverage? So far all you see are commentators and Geraldo's wild hair. Surely there's some news to warrant RARE overnight live programming."

> 1:33am: "Where are the exit polls? Where are the predictions? So the cable nets are covering the Iraqi elections LIVE all night. What are we waiting to see, a suicide bomber blow himself up live on TV?"

> 10pm: "There is a building sense of both excitement and dread," Geraldo Rivera reported from a "secret location...west of Baghdad."

> 9:40pm: FNC producer David Macdougall told Greta Van Susteren that "the Iraqi Elections Commission tells us almost 2,000 journalists have been accredited here."

> Two comments from liveblogger Roger L. Simon: "Fox is not as good as CNN at location coverage. Murdoch doesn't seem to care. Too bad. This leaves a real hole in American television journalism. Maybe the blogosphere will fill it some day."

And: "There is an appalling Baghdad correspondernt on CNN who seems almost desperate for things to go wrong, but they're not. He keeps going on and on about the danger."