Did the major networks declare Kerry the victor on election day?

[fishwax]

They didn't did they?

I know this is a pretty dumb question, but a relative and I got in a discussion about media bias while at the dinner table over the holidays, and this was his single piece of evidence supporting the mythical "liberal media" bs.

He said that at 5:30 (he lives in the mountain time zone) all the major networks said that with 1.5% of the vote available they were going to declare Kerry the winner. I told him he heard wrong, and he insisted that's what they said. His wife heard it too. I said they were probably just talking about a single state, and he insisted it was national.

I'm pretty sure it didn't happen in the real world, but I couldn't convince him, so I figured when I got back home I'd post the question here, just in case I missed something (or to see if anybody else had any idea what he might have misinterpreted).

So they didn't did they?