Fired pollster revisits 2000 election [View All]

[DoYouEverWonder]

September 28, 2006

Former UNH professor and pollster David Moore contends that his new book about the 2000 presidential election - titled "How to Steal an Election" - is not partisan. Moore said he knows it's a "hard sell," but he argues the book simply explains how George W. Bush took the presidency that was rightfully won by Al Gore.

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Moore's book tells the story of election night 2000 by focusing on the folks who crunched the numbers for network television. He argues that the television stations calling Florida - and therefore the election - for Bush in the early morning hours after the election may have been a self-fulfilling prophecy.

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The book kicks off with an explosive anecdote. Fox, the first network to call Florida and the election for George Bush, had a decision team headed by Bush's first cousin, John Ellis. For years, Ellis has maintained that he made the call by looking at the numbers and making back-of-the-envelope calculations.

But Moore has a different account, from the statistician who sat next to Ellis that night. Cynthia Talkov didn't see Ellis making any calculations, Moore writes, but she did hear what he said after he got off the phone with George Bush and his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

"Jebbie says we got it! Jebbie says we got it!" Ellis shouted to the Fox decision team, according to Moore's book.

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060928/REPOSITORY/609280383/1043/NEWS01