NBC News White House correspondent Peter Alexander and WJLA anchor Alison Starling are expecting their first child in July. Starling and Alexander were married in April. The couple met while they were both reporters in Seattle, he at KCPQ (FOX) and she at KIRO (CBS). We’re thinking of giving them one of those cute celebrity couple names like Aliter or Peterson or Starxander. Thoughts?

(Photo: Greg Gibson Photography)

NBC White House producer/correspondent Mike Viqueira is returning to Capitol Hill. He will still be covering politics on The Hill (and occasionally at the White House), but will also contribute to general assignment coverage. With Chuck Todd and Kristen Welker not going anywhere, and Peter Alexander joining the White House team, the beat became a bit crowded.

Viqueira had been covering politics the Obama administration for nearly four years, and before that was a Congressional producer.

After almost 4 years at the WH, its back to the Hill for me starting next week. But not before 1 last spot with Lester and @nbcnightlynews

— michael viqueira (@mikeviqueira) December 9, 2012

NBC News is adding to its on-air staff at the White House.

Peter Alexander, who had covered the Romney campaign, has been named White House Correspondent, joining Chuck Todd and Kristen Welker on the beat. Todd continues as NBC News Political Director and Chief White House Correspondent, as well as anchor of MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown.”

Alexander joined NBC News in 2004. Before NBC, Alexander worked at KCPQ-TV in Seattle,  KHQ-TV in Spokane and WKYT-TV in Lexington, KY.

Alexander is married to Alison Starling an anchor at WJLA-TV in Washington, DC.

Not sure who had the remote control for those huge monitors at the Romney campaign site in Boston — the ones that kept changing all night. But it made for fun viewing for us.

During an ABC liveshot with David Muir, Fox News was on the monitors. Later, during a liveshot with NBC’s Peter Alexander, ABC was on. At the end of the report, Brian Williams said, “Peter Alexander, and for a time, Barbara Walters and Cokie Roberts. Thank you all.”

NBC gets the bragging rights for being the first to call the election for Obama at 11:12pmET. An Ohio victory put the president over the top. CBS followed at 11:15, then Fox News, CNN and at 11:25pm ABC News.

GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney‘s campaign headquarters is about to start filling up in Boston, Massachusetts. For correspondents covering the Romney campaign, today has been a relatively uneventful one in the grand scheme of the campaign, though that will soon change.

“This is the first quiet day we have had in I don’t know how long,” NBC’s Peter Alexander told TVNewser. “Everything has been said, now you just wait and see what America says.”

As the polls close across the country, the network correspondents in Boston are gearing up to try and take the temperature of the Romney camp. While viewers at home get a larger perspective, the view in the campaign headquarters is a unique one.

“The advantage is that you have right at your disposal key people inside the campaign who are telling you what is going on,” CNN’s Jim Acosta told us. “Of course you are being spun, but it is a ringside seat not many people have, and a vantage point that you can share with the world.”

For tonight, correspondents are ready to expect the unexpected, and to go late if need be.

“Just when you have conventional wisdom building or predictions that come into focus on election day, you have to wonder, what will the surprise be tonight,” ABC’s David Muir told us, noting that this campaign has been rife with surprises, from Hurricane Sandy to the “47%” tape.

Read more

“NBC Nightly News” anchor and managing editor Brian Williams heads up NBC’s coverage from Rockefeller Plaza — dubbed Democracy Plaza from now through election day. David Gregory and Savannah Guthrie will join Williams at the anchor desk. Tom Brokaw looks at historical trends, Chuck Todd reports electoral storylines via a studio equipped with  augmented reality, Pete Williams reports on voter irregularities, Andrea Mitchell follows key congressional races, and Lester Holt follows governor’s races and down-ballot issues. Tamron Hall is on exit poll duty for both NBC and MSNBC. Kristen Welker will report from Obama headquarters in Chicago while Peter Alexander will report from Romney headquarters in Boston.

There’ll be coverage on NBC sites theGrio.com, NBCLatino.com and if you have Xbox, you’re in luck, you can watch NBC’s coverage there too.

Much more after the jump…

Read more

• NBC’s Peter Alexander is hosting a special for Travel Channel called “Travel Like a President.” Produced by NBC’s Peacock Productions, the special will look at what goes into the travel arrangements of the president, from clearing hotel rooms to flying on Air Force One. The special airs on Travel Channel Tues., Oct. 2 at 8 PM.

• Al Jazeera English is launching a monthly iPad magazine. About 60 percent of the content will be created for the magazine, with 40 percent coming from Al Jazeera’s other resources. AJE acting chief Will Thorne talked about the magazine to journalism.co.uk.

• NBC’s “Rock Center” is dedicating a segment this week to controversial and partisan media personalities. Ted Koppel will interview FNC’s Bill O’Reilly, HBO’s Bill Maher and conservative pundit Ann Coulter. From the logline: “On the left and on the right, are they speaking for America, or are they bad for America?”

At 9:20, Mitt Romney took to the stage with the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk, VA as his backdrop. At 9:28, he brought out his running mate on the Republican presidential ticket, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan.

NBC News began its special report at 9am with Brian Williams anchoring from London, joined by Peter Alexander in Norfolk, and Chuck Todd and David Gregory in Washington. CBS News broke in at 9:03 with Anthony Mason and Rebecca Jarvis anchoring with Jan Crawford in Norfolk and Bob Schieffer in Washington. David Muir on ABC News began a special report at 9:10 with Jonathan Karl in Norfolk and George Stephanopoulos, by Skype from a well-appointed home.

Wolf Blitzer led coverage on CNN, Bret Baier on FNC, and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow was up for Chris Hayes‘ show with Andrea Mitchell in Norfolk. FBN and HLN also carried the announcement live.

ABC continued with its special report until 9:51, NBC and CBS until 9:52.

On Fox News Baier will continue until 11am when John Roberts picks up anchoring until 1pET.

FNC is producing a modified weekday schedule: “The Five” will be in for a special hour today at 5, Baier is back for “Special Report” at 6pm followed by Shepard Smith anchoring “Fox Report” at 7pm, “Huckabee” at 8, “Hannity” at 9 and the pride of Appleton, Wisconsin, Greta Van Susteren will host a live “On the Record” at 10pmET.

Presumptive GOP Presidential nominee Mitt Romney has scheduled interviews with the “big three” broadcast networks, as well as Fox News and CNN today, two network sources confirm to TVNewser. The interviews  will be conducted this afternoon, and excerpts are expected to run on the evening newscasts. The NBC interview will be the first that Romney has given to the network in 2012… unless you count his appearance on “The Tonight Show with Lay Leno” in March.

Update: All of the interviews will run at exactly 6:30 PM. Update 2: According to a number of Tweets, the embargo is now 6 PM so it will be online and on cable news then.

Romney has been facing criticism in recent days over his management at Bain Capital. Specifically, the exact timing of when he gave up control of the company. The interviews may be in response to that criticism.

Romney spent much of the GOP campaign avoiding interviews with outlets that were not Fox News, but with the campaign now in “general election” mode, his camp has been trying to appeal to as wide a net of voters as possible. As a result he has accelerated appearances on other networks. He spoke to ABC’s Diane Sawyer in April, and made a handful of appearances on CBS News programming in the weeks that followed. CNN also interviewed Romney a handful of times earlier this year. NBC News has not interviewed Romney since late-2011, though he has appeared on “The Tonight Show” and CNBC.

News of the interviews was first reported by Buzzfeed’s Zeke Miller and Politico’s Dylan Byers.

Television personalities donned pink last night for the fourth annual Newsbabes Bash for Breast Cancer, a yearly event that raises awareness and funds for breast cancer causes hosted by a group of Washington, DC-based female journalists.

The group includes breast cancer survivor Jennifer Griffin of Fox News, Megan Hughes of Bloomberg TV and Brianna Keilar of CNN, as well as several local news personalities. MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, who had breast cancer last year, was honored at last night’s event, held at the Howard Theatre.

This year’s event also featured the “Newsmen in Pink”: Peter Alexander and Luke Russert of NBC, Peter Hamby and Don Lothian of CNN, and Jim Angle, Bret Baier, Ed Henry, Peter Doocy and Juan Williams of Fox News.

• Related, FishbowlDC: TV News Personalities: Prepare to be Pinked

Fundraising efforts this year went to George Washington University’s mammovan, a mobile unit that travels around Washington, DC to provide one-stop mammograms.

(Photo credit: WUSA)