CNN is treating tomorrow’s “State of the Union” coverage like an election night, loading up on political anchors and analysts. Coverage will be led by Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, Chris Cuomo, Jake Tapper, Kate Bolduan and Erin Burnett, who will be overseeing a focus group reacting to the speech. Dana Bash will be in the House Chamber while Jessica Yellin reports from the White House. John King will be on “Magic Wall” duty, with John Berman and Tom Foreman in the “virtual studio” to offer “reality checks” of the President’s remarks, and the Republican response.

On the analysis side, former Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich and former Current TV anchor Jennifer Granholm will provide insider analysis, with Gloria Borger, David Gergen, Cornell Belcher, Donna Brazile, Alex Castellanos, Margaret Hoover, Van Jones and Ana Navarro also weighing in throughout the night.

One person who apparently will not be appearing on CNN’s SOTU coverage is the anchor of CNN’s “State of the Union,” Candy Crowley. Crowley hosted her weekend program from DC yesterday, and previewed the SOTU on “CNN Newsroom” yesterday afternoon.

Update: CNN says that Crowley is out of town, caring for her mother. Hence, she won’t be able to participate in the coverage.

More info, below.
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The lights may be dimming on Current TV, but the network is still planning special coverage of Barack Obama‘s second inauguration. Former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm, who has said she’ll “be going back to teaching, speaking and other things” when her show “War Room” leaves the air, will host Current’s coverage along with John Fugelsang from the center of the inauguration action, in New York City. David Shuster will be on the ground in Washington, however. Coverage begins at 10amET Monday.

Al Jazeera acquired the network earlier this month and plans to launch Al Jazeera America in place of Current TV.

More details after the jump…

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With Al Jazeera’s purchase of Current TV complete, speculation has turned to what it means for Current’s lineup of hosts.

So far, only one on-air personality has announced their plans. Jennifer Granholm, who hosts “The War Room.” will continue on for a little while more before leaving the network in the Spring.

“We’ll continue to broadcast The War Room for the next few weeks through the transition, but after that I’ll be going back to teaching, speaking and other things,” Granholm wrote on Facebook.

In a video on The Young Turks YouTube channel, Cenk Uygur says that he hopes to continue hosting the TV program of the same name on the new Al Jazeera network, but that it isn’t clear whether the new owners will want to keep the show.

“It is an interesting question, and one which I do not have the answers to,” Uygur said. Regardless of what happens, he says The Young Turks will always be on their original YouTube channel.

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Tonight is the third and final Presidential debate of this election cycle. CBS’ Bob Schieffer moderates at Lynn University in Boca Raton. Here’s a round up of what the cable and broadcast networks have planned…

Scott Pelley anchors on CBS from 9-11pmET. With Schieffer moderating, certain CBS programs — including yesterday’s “Face the Nation” and today’s “CBS This Morning” — originate from Florida. Pelley will be joined by Major Garrett of National Journal and Julianna Goldman of Bloomberg, among others.

ABC’s coverage kicks off at 9pmET with Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos anchoring. They will be joined during the two-hour broadcast by VP debate moderator Martha Raddatz, Christiane Amanpour, Jake Tapper, David Muir and Jonathan Karl.

Brian Williams anchors on NBC from 9pm-11pmET. Williams will be joined by David Gregory, Savannah Guthrie, Tom Brokaw, Chuck Todd, Andrea Mitchell and Richard Haass.

PBS’ coverage runs from 9-11pmET, with Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff anchoring and political editor Christina Bellantoni contributing.

Plans for the cable networks after after the jump. Read more

Tonight’s Presidential debate, moderated by CNN’s Candy Crowley, will be held at Hofstra University at 9pmET. Here’s a round-up of what the broadcast and cable networks have planned.

On ABC News, Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos will anchor coverage from 9pm-11pmET. They will be joined by Jake Tapper, David Muir and Jon Karl. “Nightline” will be live at 11:35pmET, and ABC News will stream the debate online.

CBS News will also be live from 9pm-11pmET with Scott Pelley at the anchor desk. The network’s post-debate coverage will feature a poll of approximately 500 uncommitted voters around the nation.

Brian Williams will anchor from 9pm-11pmET on NBC News in New York City. He will be joined by David Gregory, Savannah Guthrie, Chuck Todd and Tom Brokaw. Andrea Mitchell will lead the network’s “Truth Squad” fact-check team.

PBS is live from 9-11pmET. Judy Woodruff and Gwen Ifill will anchor coverage, and political editor Christina Bellantoni will be on hand to report on social media reactions to the debate.

Fox News Channel’s Shepard Smith will anchor on Fox Broadcasting beginning at 9pmET.

Plans for the cable networks are after the jump. Read more

• With a week to go until the first Presidential debate, ABC’s David Muir sat down with GOP candidate Mitt Romney this afternoon in Toledo. The interview airs tonight on “World News with Diane Sawyer” and tomorrow on “Good Morning America.” Romney was interviewed by CNN’s Jim Acosta yesterday.

• Current TV announced today that its coverage of the October 3 debate will be led by former Vice President Al Gore. He will be joined by Current TV hosts Jennifer Granholm, Eliot Spitzer, Cenk Uygur and John Fuselgang.

• TV’s longest-running primetime program, “60 Minutes” launches its 45^th season Sunday with a Lara Logan report from Afghanistan and the first interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger since the revelations of a secret out-of-wedlock child with his housekeeper.

Current TV just announced that one of its co-founders, former Vice President Al Gore, will lead Current TV’s coverage of the Republican and Democratic National Conventions.

Gore will be joined by former Michigan Governor and “The War Room” host, Jennifer Granholm, former New York Governor and “Viewpoint” host, Eliot Spitzer and “The Young Turks” host, Cenk Uygur. California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom will join the panel for the RNC coverage.

Also, David Shuster and Michael Shure will report from both conventions and new Current TV hosts Joy Behar and John Fugelsang will contribute.

“I’m pleased to be participating in Current TV’s impressive line-up throughout the Republican and Democratic National Conventions,” said Gore. “Cenk, Jennifer and Eliot provide the keen insight and spot-on analysis our viewers have come to expect. I have no doubt that our coverage will be innovative and informative, and I look forward to working with them.”

Keith Olbermann‘s available, why didn’t they just…. oh right.

Jennifer Granholm is four months into her television career as host of “The War Room” on Current TV. The former Michigan governor talks to the Atlantic Wire about who else in the business she admires:

My favorite journalists are Christiane Amanpour, Maria Bartiromo, Rachel Maddow and the person everyone looks up to, Tim Russert, God rest his soul. I admire them all but I don’t really even pretend to be a journalist myself. I’m just an ex-governor hosting a show with an opinion. One of the challenges for me, that traditional journalists don’t really have, is interviewing people whom I agree with.  People know I’m a Democrat and I’m not going to hide what I believe. So playing devil’s advocate is a little difficult.

There’s a full page ad for CurrentTV on B5 of the Business section of today’s New York Times. It’s what’s missing that interesting.

While the ad features pictures of hosts Cenk Uygur and Jennifer Granholm, there’s no image of Keith Olbermann, whose show “Countdown” is the network’s longest-running — since June — and most-watched live talk show since the network reinvented itself last year. Olbermann’s name, however, is at the top of the bill, at the bottom of the ad. Granholm’s show “The War Room” debuts tonight. Uygur’s “The Young Turks” has been on the air since Dec. 5.

We’ve also learned Olbermann will not be leading CurrentTV’s Florida primary coverage tomorrow night as he is recovering from bronchitis. While skipping Iowa and New Hampshire, Olbermann anchored Current’s South Carolina primary coverage Jan. 21.

Ahead of the launch tonight of Current TV’s third primetime show, “War Room with Jennifer Granholm,” the Daily News‘s David Hinckley caught up with former VP Al Gore, who co-founded Current five years ago.

He likes that Current is openly progressive, “because no one else has that voice. MSNBC has some liberal shows, but they’re all over the place in the daytime and they have a conservative in the morning.”

More to the point, he says, MSNBC is owned by a corporation “that demands ‘balance.’ So they have to dutifully talk to Tea Party people.

“We don’t have to do that because we own ourselves. We are the only network that’s not beholden to a corporation. Our only obligation is to the truth.”