CNN viewers saw double Tuesday when the cable news giant used a hologram to `beam up` a reporter from Chicago to New York for election analysis.

Like a character out of the science fiction movie `Star Wars,` veteran political anchor Wolf Blitzer used a 3D hologram system to transport correspondent Jessica Yellin into his studio.

Yellin, a little fuzzy and appearing to glow, conducted a brief discussion with Blitzer before vanishing again.

`You`re a terrific hologram,` Blitzer told the image.

Yellin explained to viewers that her body was actually still in Chicago, with 35 cameras filming her inside a special tent.

`They shoot my body at different angles and I`m told that`s what transmits my entire body image back to New York,` she said.

`It`s like I follow the tradition of Princess Leia,` she said, referring to the `Star Wars` heroine.

Underneath -- for what CNN said was the first time in television history -- the screen announced: `Jessica Yellin via hologram from Chicago. Live.`

They chose to unveil the technology in the midst of CNN`s wall-to-wall coverage of the historic US election Tuesday pitting underdog Republican John McCain against Democrat Barack Obama, who is bidding to become the nation`s first African-American president.