Election night is like no other for on-air journalists. It’s what Christmas is like to Santa Claus, Flag Day is for Betsy Ross, Super Bowl for football players.

It’s a non-stop night of filler coverage, while pundits and political reporters stare as maps slowly change from gray to blue and red. It can be enthralling for us at home, but for those in the studio, it’s a little bit of a (nationally broadcast, live) mess.

So no one can blame Diane Sawyer if she needed a little liquid courage to help her with the nerves of the night (or just help keep the night moving along). OK, so we don’t actually know if Sawyer had been drinking, and ABC reps told The Daily Mail she was “exhausted” from having to cover Hurricane Sandy in the days prior, but nonetheless, the anchor was a sight to see.

Sawyer was slurring words, going off on tangents, propping herself animatedly on her desk with her arms and even asking for music cues.

“I wanna — can we have our music, because this is another big one here?” Sawyer said, going on to call President Obama, “Orama.”

Before long, the tweets started rolling in, making Diane’s alleged drinking a trending topic. A parody account was even opened — @DrnkDianeSawyer — with hundreds of followers before the election results were even announced.

Drunk Diane Sawyer @DrnkDianeSawyer

99 bottles of beer on the wall 99 bottles of beer

6 Nov 12

Drunk Diane Sawyer @DrnkDianeSawyer

hey guys wh o won i fell aslee?p

7 Nov 12

Turns out even the office had a chuckle at the tweets and rumors.

“Rumors that Miss Sawyer had been a tad tipsy had been met with ‘a lot of laughter’ around the office,” according to a source The Daily Mail was in touch with.

But Sawyer’s “drinking” was the least of ABC’s struggles throughout the night; its studio in Times Square lost power for 20 minutes during the broadcast.

The network tried to avoid any hitches by simply shifting Sawyer and her co-anchor George Stephanopoulos to a different area and used shots of the people crowding into Times Square to distract the viewers.

Sawyer herself thanked the ABC team for quickly dealing with the situation and even gamely acknowledged the tweets from the previous night.

Diane Sawyer @DianeSawyer

Awe for the @abc powerhouse team. Hail the techs who kept us on air…

7 Nov 12

Diane Sawyer @DianeSawyer

…during 25 minute power outage. Read your tweets the good, bad, and the funny. See you on @abcworldnews.

7 Nov 12

Thumbnail image courtesy of Flickr, david_shankbone.