If you were watching ABC News’ election night coverage on Tuesday you might have been a little surprised to find Diane Sawyer, the anchor of “ABC World News,” acting loopy. According to The Los Angeles Times and video evidence of her behavior, Ms. Sawyer slurred her speech and called President Obama “President Barack.” She even appeared to be leaning on her desk as if for support.

Bewildered by Ms. Sawyer’s strange behavior, viewers took to Twitter to comment. “Bad night for Romney,” one tweeter said. “Worse night for Diane Sawyer?”

“No one can blame Diane Sawyer if she needed a little liquid courage to help her with the nerves of the night,” Mashable’s Pete Cashmore tweeted.

“When I watched Diane Sawyer last night something seemed off..couldnt put my finger on it.But watching this AM, toasted!” TMZ’s Harvey Levin added.

Let’s all drink to Obama’s win (except you, Diane Sawyer),” Gawker tweeted.

After viewers took to Twitter to react to Ms. Sawyer’s loopy election night behavior, the anchor of “ABC World News” reacted to the drunk rumor: “…during 25 minute power outage. Read your tweets the good, bad, and the funny. See you on @ABCWorldNews,” she tweeted.

According to a source cited by the New York Daily News, Ms. Sawyer’s erratic election night behavior was the result of exhaustion from covering Hurricane Sandy and readying herself for election night.

“She spent a number of sleepless nights preparing and rehearsing,” one of the anchor’s friends told The Daily News. “It just caught up to her.”

Not everyone thought Ms. Sawyer was off her game. The Chicago Sun-Times‘ Tom Shales praised ABC News’ election night coverage.

“ABC News is the winner in 2012’s Election Night coverage,” Mr. Shales wrote. “In fact, ABC’s coverage of the entire campaign has generally left competitors red in the face if not green with envy, though that hardly means it was without its own fumbles, stumbles and wretched excesses.”

Ms. Sawyer wasn’t the only one acting strange on election night. Fox News contributor Karl Rover, a top adviser to former President George W. Bush, questioned his network’s, as well as CNN’s, decision to declare President Barack Obama the winner of the 2012 presidential election after analyzing the results coming out of Ohio.

“I think this is premature,” Mr. Rove said to the surprise of his colleagues during Fox’s election night coverage. Mr. Rove’s remark eventually led to an interview between Megyn Kelly and a member of the network’s number-crunching “decision desk.”

“We’re actually quite comfortable with the call in Ohio,” one of the number-crunchers. “There just aren’t enough Republican votes left for Mitt Romney to get there,” another one added.

Mr. Rove may have had good reason to be upset at Fox and CNN for declaring the race over for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney before the final numbers arrived. A study, conducted by the Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group, reveals that the strategist’s super PAC, American Crossroads, spent more than $100 million in attack ads on the election, racking up a success rate of just one percent.

Regardless of the reasons for their behavior, Ms. Sawyer and Mr. Rove remind us all just how long and exhausting the entire 2012 presidential race has been.