Bush's cousin responsible for late night mistake

WASHINGTON - In an election full of mind-boggling coincidences, none is surely more mind-boggling than this. The network television consultant who triggered the mistaken call of Florida as election night stretched into the next day - which for a few minutes gave George W. Bush the White House - was one of Bush's cousins.

John Ellis, whose mother, Nancy, is sister of former President Bush, father of the Republican candidate, had been hired by Fox News to run its election night Decision Desk. At 2.16 am on November 8 it made the fateful decision to award Florida and its 25 electoral votes to Bush, putting him "over the top" in the quest for the 270 Electoral College majority needed to win.

Desperate not to be scooped, the other networks promptly followed suit and Al Gore phoned Bush and conceded victory. Soon, however, the race had tightened again, forcing a recount in Florida and obliging the Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox and the other hugely embarrassed networks to make their second Florida retraction of the night. Gore retracted his concession.

Ellis has denied allegations that in election night calls to George W. and his brother Jeb, he revealed confidential internal data collected by the Voter News Service research organisation.

Herald Online feature: America votes

Democrats and Republicans wage war online