Posted on 09/28/2006 4:54:43 PM PDT by Hadean
Boston Globe - CONCORD, N.H.: A former national pollster argues in his new book that Al Gore really won the 2000 presidential election, but premature calls by the media for George Bush took Gore's victory away.
David Moore's book, "How to Steal an Election," argues Al Gore rightfully won the presidency.
Moore, a former University of New Hampshire professor, said he knows his premise is a "hard sell" and insists the book is not partisan.
His former bosses -- the Gallup Poll -- disagreed and fired him after he told them about the book last spring, he said.
Gallup General Counsel Steve O'Brien told the Concord Monitor on Wednesday that writing the book was a "colossally stupid" thing for Moore to do given the polling firm's nonpartisan mission. O'Brien scoffed at the idea that any book with such a title could be impartial.
Moore disagrees and believes he was being "as objective as you can be about what really happened."
"All I do is present evidence about how an election was stolen," he said.
Moore founded the University of New Hampshire Survey Center in the 1970s but left in 1993 to take a job with the Gallup Poll.
His book focuses on the people who analyzed the votes for network television in 2000. He argues that the networks too quickly put Florida in Bush's win column -- effectively giving him the electoral votes needed for victory and influencing the ultimate outcome when the fight over who won Florida went to court.
Moore said even though the networks rescinded the call within hours, Gore looked like a sore loser for seeking a recount in Florida.
That impression influenced not only public opinion but also judicial outlook, making it possible for the U.S. Supreme Court to shut down the recount, Moore argues.
Fox called the race for Bush at 2:15 a.m. NBC followed, then CBS/CNN's joint team and finally ABC. Two hours later, they all retracted that projection.
Moore also noted Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is Bush's brother and a cousin, John Ellis, was on Fox's team that called the race. Ellis said he made the call by looking at the vote tallies and making back-of-the-envelope calculations.
"Why would Jeb Bush care whether Fox called it at 2:15 in the morning or at 8:15 in the morning? Why would he care?" Moore told the Monitor. "Why would you care if you know you're going to win, if you absolutely know you're going to win, does it matter whether Fox calls it? Of course not."
Moore said networks were blinded by competition and rushed to call the race after Fox -- a charge the other networks deny.
Moore said on election night 2000 he observed the team calling the elections for CBS and CNN. Just after 1 a.m., Moore said he asked the head of the CBS/CNN team why he hadn't called Florida for Bush. The team leader said the margin was too small, but Moore said the network called the race an hour later, minutes after Fox and NBC.
CBS's team leader insisted he was almost ready to call the race when the others did.
Moore believes the pressure was too great for the network to wait and the rush to be first still affects accuracy in calling races.
Bush won Florida by 537 votes.
A media consortium conducted a manual recount of contested ballots and found that Gore would still have lost if the recount he had sought had been done. Gore wanted a recount in a few counties. The consortium said a statewide recount probably would have given Gore the election by about 100 votes.
Moore's book has been released only to a few bookstores. Its official release is next month.
"Al Gore wins the state of Florida and its 25 electoral votes," announced Peter Jennings of ABC News. "It gives him the first big-state momentum of the evening. This is the biggest state where the race has been close and the fourth biggest electoral prize."
This professor is not a PHD...he is an ASS!
THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF THE TRUTH.
I remember driving home from work about about
7:00 pm Pacific time and hesring CBS radio report Florida for Gore.
I remember how my heart sank.
"Moore, a former University of New Hampshire professor, said he knows his premise is a "hard sell" and insists the book is not partisan."
Well.... I guess that settles it.
Exactly. They had effectively already called the race for Gore long before they were forced to reverse themselves in the wee hours....LONG AFTER THE POLLS CLOSED.
"his premise is a "hard sell" and insists the book is not partisan.
His former bosses -- the Gallup Poll -- disagreed and fired him after he told them about the book last spring, he said."
I would fire him too.
The press called it for Gore.
Tee hee....isn't this the same university where the professor is all over TV telling the world that our President blew up the WTC?
PHD == Piled Hip Deep...
They are still recounting the 2000 election.
LOL.
Well, maybe it keeps them off the streets and out of trouble.
The important fact in all this is how an obviously partisan apparatchik was able to get such a sensitive position with "non-partisan" Gallup.
There is no way anyone can factually state "Gore would have won..." without supposing facts not in evidence combined with a giant leap down the Kool Aid rabbit hole.
LOL.Dims never let facts get in the way of a good story.
Didn't the make the initial Florida call for Gore BEFORE the polls had closed in the Panhandle?
If Socialism lasts 10,000 years, its worshippers will never forget the Great Florida Defeat of 2000.
VNS called Florida for Gore at 8 p.m.
They AREN'T really stooping this freaking low are they? Oh yes, they are.
AL Gore tired to steal the election, we all saw it with our own eyes, and the rats have rewritten history once again.
Dan Rather did that one
| That impression influenced not only public opinion but also judicial outlook, making it possible for the U.S. Supreme Court to shut down the recount, Moore argues. This statement is opinion not fact. Moore also noted Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is Bush's brother ??? So what? A media consortium conducted a manual recount of contested ballots and found that Gore would still have lost if the recount he had sought had been done. Gore wanted a recount in a few counties. The consortium said a statewide recount probably would have given Gore the election by about 100 votes. I have never heard this last statement. Since the consortium didn't recount the entire state it is wholly irresponsible to make this claim. |
You are dead on. I was supervisor of flying for my unit that night and glued to the TV ALL DAY AND NIGHT long. The truth is EVERY outlet was fcalling Florida for Gore. And, humorously enough, I distinctly rember one outlet having Mary Matalin on with that arrogant and smirky Mike McCurry as FLORIDA WAS BEING CALLED FOR GORE and it was MAry Matalin who stopped the conversation to demand they acknowledge that the Pan Handle has not been called in and that it was an hour behind.
The writer of this trash hack book is one audacious LIAR.
A lot like OBL moaning about the Andulusian Tragedy, five-hundred years ago.
Yeah they sure did.
Bush won anyway.
Algore gets to try again in 2008, it will be fun to see him and Hillary rewriting the Clinton history book.
Anybody got that graphic of a dead horse?
How could calling the election 6 hours after the polls closed change the election??? The guy is a total moron. I can see why they fired his stupid ass.
Historical revisionism by the left never ceases.
Exactly. But that had no effect. It was them calling it at 2:15 the next morning for Bush that effected the outcome. Get it?
If Gore didn't mean to steal the election, why did he have a Daley as campaign manager?
Bush Derangement Syndrome claims another victim.
Well, that's what I recall, too, and that we on the West Coast all lamented afterwards that the premature, and erroneous, call for Gore depressed the West Coast Republican vote. So how can this guy claim it was prematurely called for Pres. Bush?
And Florida has two time zones; the clowns called it while the western panhandle's polls were still open.
-PJ
He's trying to make money, plain and simple. He's after the money from the dweebs that still harbor some glimmer of hope that maybe AG really did win. pure bullshit.
It is times like this that I wish our President could run for a third term, he would win again and shut these idiots up. On second thought, he could run 25 times; win and they would still complain that he won by cheating!!!!
But I stayed up that night long enough for Jennings to declare Bush the winner and thus, the 43rd president. I remember how overjoyed I was to see that graphic come up on the screen.
We've already had media giants do the actual TOTAL receount. Bush won!
They are insane!
Dear Professor,
Move on!
Of course the fact that all three networks called the state of Florida for Gore an hour before the polls closed in the panhandle had nothing what so ever to do with the outcome of the election. (scarasim off)
He was a sore loser. Not because of the networks calling it, but because he LOST the actual counted votes. And then he lost the recounted votes. And then he lost the recounted votes again.
We must be experiencing the same illusion.
I seem to recall the networks calling it for Gore when certain precincts were still voting in the different time zones of the state, probably very likely influencing whether some voters even bothered to show up for G.W.B.

The psychosis continues.
so W is eligible for the 2008 race ?
I was still up when they changed their minds (for the third time) and withdrew the call for Bush. Made me sick to my stomach.
The only reasonable conclusion is that if not for the earlier fakery in calling the state for Gore with the polls still open, there would have been no need whatsoever for the recount circus which followed.
"I remember how my heart sank."
My heart sank too, and I was sitting right here in Florida watching it unfold on the news. Of course, the people in the Florida panhandle weren't too pleased that it was called before THEY voted.
The professor is wrong. I was there. Bush won.
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