Bush Wins

Florida Tips Balance for Texas Governor

By Brian Hartman

N E W Y O R K, Nov. 7 B ABCNEWS projects that Texas Gov. George W. Bush has won election to the White House. As late reporting precincts came early this morning, ABCNEWS projected Bush has won Florida B putting him over the top with 271 electoral votes, one more than he needed to win.

If projections hold, Republicans will for the first time since 1954 control the White House, the Senate and the House.

Iowa, Wisconsin and Oregon remained too close to call at this hour.

Earlier this evening, ABCNEWS and other television networks projected a win for Gore in Florida. But a subsequent review of exit- poll data prompted a recall of the projection. A subdued mood at Bush headquarters in Austin, Texas, gave way to cheers and elation as reports that Florida was being called back came in.

The Gore campaign had expressed confidence tonight that returns from late-reporting counties would push the vice president over the top in the state. Indeed, a slight Bush lead in the popular vote has slowly inched down to a dead heat as the final precincts report their returns.

Earlier, Gore suffered an embarrassing loss in his home state of Tennessee. Bush has carved out a swath of winning the South solidly, from Virginia and the Carolinas on the Atlantic coast to his home state of Texas.

Much of the central West and Rocky Mountain region also has gone to Bush, who picked off Ohio, Indiana and Missouri in the Midwest.

And in West Virginia, a state that has voted Democratic in five of the last six presidential elections, Bush has managed an upset.

For Gore, victories in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Illinois added to his near sweep of the Northeast. Bush managed to to eke out his only victory amid the sea of Gore states in New England states by capturing New Hampshire, the scene of his most humiliating loss to Sen. John McCain during the Republican primaries.

The Gore camp breathed a sigh of relief tonight after the Democrat won California, the nightBs largest electoral prize (54 electoral votes), despite BushBs efforts to score an upset there.

Washington state also went to Gore, easing concerns that the vice president would have trouble delivering this state for a fourth consecutive presidential election for Democrats.

Adding insult to the injury of GoreBs losing Tennessee, Bush also has won President ClintonBs home state, Arkansas. Alaska wrapped up the voting in the United States at midnight ET, when ABCNEWS projected its three votes would go to Bush, as expected.

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Florida Call Goes South

Nov. 7 B In the highly competitive media sweepstakes to project the presidential race, things have sometimes been known to go wrong.

That happened in tonightBs close race, when a key victory for Al Gore turned, two hours later, into a key uncertainty.

News organizations, including ABCNEWS, called Florida for Gore shortly before 8 p.m. ET, based on exit poll results from the Voter News Service.

BWe are no longer certain of our projection of Florida because we were told by the Voter News Service that there might be problems with the data,B explained Jeffrey Schneider, director of public affairs for ABCNEWS, close to midnight on Election Night. BWhile VNS is re- evaluating that data, we felt it prudent to place Florida back in the Btoo close to callB column.B

BIt is one of those things that we donBt like to see happen,B said Carolyn Smith, ABCNEWS director of elections. BThe key precincts that we rely on to substantiate exit poll data, didnBt substantiate it the way they should have B we decided we need to pull back and re- examine all of the data, which is what weBre doing.B

VNS, a news consortium that includes ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox, NBC and The Associated Press, processes exit poll data from some 70,000 voters. Early readings of exit polls, which have proven very accurate in past elections, signaled Gore as the winner.

But then word came that some results remained to be counted.

That was enough for Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the Republican candidate, to challenge the call.

BI donBt believe some of these states that they called, like Florida,B he said tonight.

FloridaBs 25 electoral votes are critical in this tight race. They likely will determine its winner.

It was not immediately clear what caused the confusion in exit poll counts from the state. ABCNEWS is currently re-evaluating the data.

Mark McKinnon, a senior media consultant for the Bush campaign, says the reversal in calls by news organizations is a serious concern since, he says, it could have discouraged republican voters in Florida too soon and prevented them from casting their votes. He believes the mix-up calls for a reevaluation of the exit-poll system.

BThis is an unfortunate rush to judgement by the media,B McKinnon said. BWeBre concerned that rush could have affected the voting in the northern Florida in the panhandle. I think there will be some real serious discussion about this. I hope there will be because it could have literally affected the vote there.B

GOP consultant Adam Goodman adds that exit polls do not take into account absentee ballots and so are not entirely foolproof.

The Republicans arenBt the only ones concerned about early misreporting of FloridaBs results. Ed Rendell, the general chairman of the Democratic campaign told ABCNEWS he believes this proves media organizations should refrain from reporting projections until at least 75 percent of voting data is available.