26. “They didn’t understand” Author interview with Cynthia Talkov.
27. As a last resort Moore, How to Steal an Election, 52.
28. “My God, you were right!” Ibid., 53.
29. Ellis, Edelman later recalled Ibid.
30. “I enjoy crunching numbers” Author interview with Cynthia Talkov.
31. “I was brought up” Ibid.
32. When Ellis stepped away Moore, How to Steal an Election, 53; author interview with Cynthia Talkov.
33. Talkov was incredulous Author interview with Cynthia Talkov.
34. When Ellis got back Ibid.
35. The new data stream Ellis, “A Hard Day’s Night.”
36. the state that had elected Jane Prendergast, “Ohio’s Ultra-Bellwethers: What Do They Foretell,” Cincinnati Enquirer, July 22, 2012.
37. At 7:50 Shepard, “How They Blew It.”
38. At 7:49 Bill Sammon, At Any Cost: How Al Gore Tried to Steal the Election (Washington, D.C.: Regnery, 2001), 36.
39. “We’re going to now project” Tom Brokaw, NBC Nightly News, NBC, Nov. 7, 2000.
40. Thirty-one seconds later Linda Mason, Kathleen Frankovic, and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, “CBS News Coverage of Election Night 2000: Investigation, Analysis, Recommendations,” report prepared for CBS News, Jan. 2001, 12.
41. CNN echoed Shepard, “How They Blew It.”
42. It was up to Moody Ellis, “A Hard Day’s Night”; author interview with a senior Fox executive.
43. Ellis polled his team Ellis, “A Hard Day’s Night.”
44. At 7:52 Mason et al., “CBS News Coverage of Election Night 2000,” 12.
45. The polls had yet to close Florida Division of Elections, “Reports by the Division of Elections,” http://election.dos.state.fl.us/reports/.
46. Bush’s senior strategist Evan Thomas, “What a Long, Strange Trip,” Newsweek, Nov. 20, 2000; Jake Tapper, Down & Dirty: The Plot to Steal the Presidency (Boston: Little, Brown, 2001), 28.
47. “Jeb, I’m sorry” Ellis, “A Hard Day’s Night.”
48. Ten minutes after Mason et al., “CBS News Coverage of Election Night 2000,” 12.
49. Ailes sat in a plush Author interview with a person who was present.
50. At 9:00 p.m. Ibid.
51. Ellis was now virtually certain Ellis, “A Hard Day’s Night.”
52. “I think Americans oughta wait” Tapper, Down & Dirty, 28.
53. “Can you guys take a look” Ellis, “A Hard Day’s Night.”
54. A message flashed Author interview with Cynthia Talkov.
55. “We are canceling the vote” Moore, How to Steal an Election, 36.
56. It turned out that a VNS employee Tapper, Down & Dirty, 30.
57. The VNS screen showed Ellis, “A Hard Day’s Night.”
58. At 10:23 Mason et al., “CBS News Coverage of Election Night 2000,” 12.
59. In the Sports Suite Author interview with a former Fox executive.
60. Ellis later recalled Ellis, “A Hard Day’s Night.”
61. In a first-person account Ibid.
62. “What do you think?” Ibid.
63. “Any reason not to call Bush in Florida?” Ibid.
64. The analysts still wanted more time Ibid.
65. “John, based on these numbers” Collins, Crazy Like a Fox, 147.
66. Ailes, who had left Fox Author interview with a former senior Fox executive.
67. At 2:07 a.m. Moore, How to Steal an Election, 41.
68. Cynthia Talkov, who was sitting Ibid., 58; author interview with Cynthia Talkov.
69. Nor did he discuss Moore, How to Steal an Election, 58; Ellis, “A Hard Day’s Night.” In an email, Ellis disputed Talkov’s account, asserting he did check the “need/get” ratios. “You cannot run an election night decision desk without constantly and frantically checking the VNS monitors. That’s pretty much all you do, all night.… Need/get is the sine qua non of calling elections. You don’t call winners; you determine that one or the other of the candidates cannot win. When elections are close, that determination is arrived at by need/get. Everyone on an Election Night Decision Desk (any Election Night Decision Desk) works off of ‘need/get.’ ”
70. Around 2:10 a.m. Author interview with Cynthia Talkov.
71. “Jebbie says we got it!” Moore, How to Steal an Election, 59.
72. No other network Mason et al., “CBS News Coverage of Election Night 2000,” 12.
73. This time, no one expressed objections Moore, How to Steal an Election, 59.
74. Talkov would later be haunted Author interview with Cynthia Talkov.
75. “At the time” Ibid.
76. “Let me introduce you” Author interview with a person familiar with the matter.
77. “We’re gonna call it” Author interview with a person familiar with the matter.
78. At 2:16 a.m. Brit Hume, Special Report with Brit Hume, Fox News Channel, Nov. 7, 2000; footage of Fox’s coverage can be found on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJIGQyF2Yjo, accessed Aug. 13, 2013.
79. Confusion reigned Thomas, “What a Long, Strange Trip.”
80. “It’s just Fox” Tapper, Down & Dirty, 32.
81. “Is this going to be” Thomas, “What a Long, Strange Trip.”
82. At NBC News Ibid., 72.
83. Around midnight, Jack Welch Author interview with a person present that evening.
84. “Gotta go” Ibid.
85. Tom Brokaw made the announcement Mason et al., “CBS News Coverage of Election Night 2000,” 12.
86. Twenty-two seconds Ibid.
87. “That’s it” Dan Rather, CBS News Election Night, CBS, Nov. 8, 2000.
88. CNN called it Mason et al., “CBS News Coverage of Election Night 2000,” 12.
89. Only the AP Moore, How to Steal an Election, 83.
90. Bush reveled in Ellis, “A Hard Day’s Night.”
91. At 2:48 a.m. Moore, How to Steal an Election, 43.
92. Twenty minutes later Ibid., 43.
93. Gore was already Thomas, “What a Long, Strange Trip.”
94. Campaign aides frantically Ibid.
95. At 3:27 a.m. Ellis, “A Hard Day’s Night.”
96. “Florida—the Sec of State Web site” Moore, How to Steal an Election, 44.
97. Ellis called Moody over Collins, Crazy Like a Fox, 148.