Anderson Cooper on Election Night news coverage: 'You're ready for anything'

Anderson Cooper had a long Election Night, like most network newscasters, but he's up early and on the phone Wednesday (Nov. 7).

While discussing his hosting of the sixth "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute" special Sunday, Dec. 2, he also reflects on his co-anchoring of the cable news network's coverage on the evening that culminated in the re-election of President Barack Obama.

"It was an exciting night," Cooper tells Zap2it. "Going into it, we really had no idea what was going to happen, and I think we're still kind of going over the results and looking at the numbers.

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"Obviously, it was a very difficult race for President Obama, in terms of the economic situation that he's dealing with ... and for him to win re-election was a major victory. And the way he did it, by kind of keeping together the coalition from 2008, is pretty remarkable."

Cooper adds the presidential candidate who wasn't elected, Mitt Romney, "fought a very good race. I thought he was very gracious in what he said last night. What it all means moving forward, in terms of getting stuff done, I have no idea. I don't think anybody does, but it was a really fascinating night to watch."

Some forecasters saw the next four years' Oval Office resident taking longer to determine. Had it, the host of CNN's weeknight "Anderson Cooper 360" -- also a contributor to CBS' "60 Minutes" who's in the second and final season of his syndicated weekday talk show "Anderson" -- was prepped.

"You're ready for anything," he maintains. "We would have had the same length of night whether the race was called or not. I was going until about 3 a.m. (ET), and the night went as long as I had planned."