Politics

Dialing For Dubya

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

December 12, 2000 / 8:17 AM EST / CBS

Fox News election consultant John Ellis, George W. Bush's cousin, says in an online account that he spoke to presidential candidate George W. Bush five times on Election Day while on the job at the network's election desk.

But Ellis insists he did not give out confidential exit poll information. Bush got that information elsewhere, Ellis says in an account that has further miffed Fox News executives, who are investigating his conduct.

Ellis was reportedly paid $15,000 by Inside.com to write an account of what happened that night.

In their final conversation early on the morning of Nov. 8, Ellis writes the Texas governor told him Al Gore had taken back his concession.

"I hope you're taking all this down, Ellis," Bush reportedly said. "This is good stuff for a book."

Bush first called Ellis after 2 p.m. on Nov. 7 when the first wave of exit poll information came in from Voter News Service, a consortium consisting of ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox, NBC and The Associated Press.

According to Ellis, Bush asked him, "Looks tight, huh?"

Bush already had the second wave of exit poll information when Ellis spoke to him again at about 5:30 p.m. According to Ellis, Bush asked, "Is it really this close?"

Bush's brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, also called Ellis after Fox mistakenly projected Florida for Gore at 7:52 p.m. Ellis told him he was looking at a computer "screenful of Gore."

Much later in the evening, Fox was the first network to call Florida for Bush, again mistakenly, at 2:16 a.m. Other networks, including CBS, quickly followed suit.

Publicity about Ellis' relationship to Bush has proved an embarrassment to Fox, whose executives were angry with him for writing about it. The network is still investigating whether Ellis, who was working on a temporary contract, provided the Bush campaign with insider data.

Fox was criticized for having a Bush cousin as director of its team responsible for projecting the presidential race. The network, and Ellis, said an executive above Ellis had the final say on whether a state was called.