John Prescott Ellis

Fox News had called Florida for Gore early in the evening, and was the last major network to retract their call for Gore. However, they were the first (at 2:16 am ET) to call Florida for Bush. Ellis also admitted sharing exit poll data with his cousins by phone. After the magazine interview was published, Fox News Vice President John Moody admitted that Ellis had broken rules by sharing the data and was considering disciplinary action.

Ellis provided CBSNews.com with a copy of a letter he says he sent to the editor of the New Yorker. In the letter, Ellis says that he “did not share with Bush any of the information that was appearing on our screens" during two afternoon phone calls. The letter says that later in the evening "as actual vote results" came in, Ellis spoke frequently with the Bushes about "what was happening” in several states. According to Ellis, other workers on the decision desk – “most of whom are registered Democrats” – were talking to the Gore campaign. Ellis says that he was ultra-scrupulous because of his relationship. "We obeyed those rules more strictly than any other news organization, precisely because my cousin was running for president," Ellis told USA Today. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/11/14/politics/main249357.shtml Read Less