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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRoger Ailes: "don’t go out there looking like someone ran over your dog"
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/11/how-rove-fought-with-fox-over-ohio.html
How Karl Rove Fought With Fox News Over the Ohio Call
Shortly before 5 p.m. yesterday, Fox News chairman and CEO Roger Ailes assembled his network's election team in a second floor conference room at Foxs midtown headquarters to discuss the nights coverage. He prepared them for the worst. Guys," he told them according to a source familiar with the exchange, "if things dont go your way tonight, dont go out there looking like someone ran over your dog."
Six hours later, American Crossroads co-founder and Fox News contributor Karl Rove was on-camera seeming to ignore his bosss orders. Shortly after 11 p.m., Bret Baier went on-camera to read a script written by Foxs Washington managing editor Bill Sammon, based on an analysis by the network's decision desk, announcing Ohio for Obama. Thats the presidency, essentially," Baier said.
Instantly, Fox phones lit up with angry phone calls and e-mails from the Romney campaign, who believed that the call was premature, since tallies in several Republican-leaning Southern counties hadn't been been fully tabulated. "The Romney people were totally screaming that were totally wrong," one Fox source said. "To various people, they were saying, 'your decision team is wrong.'" According to a Fox insider, Rove had been in contact with the Romney people all night. After the Ohio call, Rove whose super-PAC had spent as much as $300 million on the election, to little avail took their complaints public, conducting an on-air primer on Ohio's electoral math in disputing the call.
The episode "speaks for itself. It was live television," said a Fox News spokesperson. "Karl was in touch with the Romney people after he and Joe Trippi became concerned the call might be premature," said a Rove spokesperson. "It was then he found the Ohio Secretary of State website had roughly 7 percent more of the vote in and the two candidates separated first by 1,995 votes and then by 911." Hovering behind the dispute was Roves history as George W. Bushs strategist in two close elections: In 2000, Fox had called Florida for Al Gore early, and then was forced to rescind the call later. At 2:16 a.m., they again called the race, this time for George Bush that call, too, they'd had to rescind. (Adding to the controversy, Bushs cousin, John Ellis, was leading the team of statisticians that made the call.)
This time, it was the network divided against itself, and Fox News' top producers held a meeting to adjudicate. The decision desk stood their ground. They knew how momentous the call was. Earlier in the night, according to a source, before making the call, Arnon Mishkin, who heads the decision desk, told Fox brass, lets remember this is Fox News calling Ohio. This will say something beyond Ohio going for Obama. Fox brass told Mishkin to get the numbers right and ignore the politics: "If we think Ohio has gone Obama, we call Ohio," said a Fox News executive.
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Roger Ailes: "don’t go out there looking like someone ran over your dog" (Original Post)
sabra
Nov 2012
OP
LeftinOH
(5,357 posts)1. I read that as "Fox's meltdown headquarters"...
which is probably more accurate, anyway
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)2. From here on
we will see Faux go the way of Cnn,to the toilet.
Javaman
(62,533 posts)3. They didn't look like their dog was run over...
they looked like they were poll-bearers at a funeral. LOL
Cha
(297,574 posts)4. "Joe Trippi"? What's he doing with Karl Rove? He use to
be Dean's campaign manager. It just seems weird to have his name associated with bush's brain. lol