The New York Times’ Brian Stelter was inside CNN’s Time Warner Center control room last night as the Iowa caucuses unfolded…

Sam Feist, the political director for CNN, and David Bohrman, the senior vice president and Washington bureau chief, orchestrated the coverage, juggling caucus results, correspondents and commercial breaks. Near the end of the 8 p.m. hour, a producer alerted Mr. Feist that new vote tallies were available.

“We just got 15 percent of Republican results,” Mr. Feist exclaimed to Mr. Bohrman. “We need to cut in. It’s a dramatic change.”

Sixty seconds later on the air, Mr. Blitzer pointed to a pie chart on a billboard-sized electronic screen that displayed the updated GOP information.

The new data showed that Mike Huckabee was pulling away with the lead, prompting the network’s “Election Analysis Center” to project Mr. Huckabee as the winner of the Republican caucus. “I need Jon Klein and Rick Davis,” Mr. Feist said.

Mr. Klein, the president of CNN/U.S., and Mr. Davis, the head of the network’s standards and practices, walked over. The three men conferred briefly and agreed that a projection is warranted.