During the November 12 edition of Fox News' America's News HQ, while discussing possible conservative equivalents to grassroots organizations like ACORN and MoveOn.org, Fox News political analyst Dick Morris stated, “I've been talking a lot about a group called GOPTrust.com.” Indeed, between October 27 and November 17, Morris mentioned GOPTrust.com during at least 13 Fox News appearances and has asked viewers to “give funds to GOPTrust.com,” the website of the National Republican Trust PAC. (When GOPTrust.com is entered into a Web browser, it redirects to http://nationalrepublicantrust.com.) Morris has called the group “courageous” and said, “We need groups like that to be the spokesmen” for conservatism. Morris also has promoted GOPTrust.com in his Creators Syndicate column and columns published in or by the New York Post, The Hill, Newsmax.com, and his personal website, DickMorris.com. However, in the previously noted instances, Morris did not disclose his apparent financial ties to the group.

Morris' email newsletter frequently includes ads that state they are "[p]aid for by The National Republican Trust PAC." Through publicly available records filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Media Matters for America found that GOPTrust.com has paid a firm apparently affiliated with Morris at least $24,000 since the beginning of October, mostly for “Email Communication.” The “Mailing Address” for that firm, Triangulation Strategies, is listed in one of the National Republican Trust PAC's FEC filings as “dickmorris.com.” In numerous other FEC filings documenting payments to Triangulation Strategies, National Republican Trust PAC listed the mailing address for Triangulation Strategies as a New York address connected to Morris. Additionally, a separate October FEC filing from a campaign unrelated to the National Republican Trust PAC directly connects Morris with Triangulation Strategies. Media Matters has documented more than a dozen Fox News appearances or columns in which Morris has mentioned, promoted, or fundraised for GOPTrust.com without disclosing his apparent financial relationship with that organization. (In some cases, reprints of Morris' columns did appear in his email newsletter along with embedded ads marked as paid for by the National Republican Trust PAC.)

The National Republican Trust PAC and Triangulation Strategies

According to FEC filings, the National Republican Trust PAC made 12 separate payments of $1,500 and two payments of $3,000 each -- for a total of $24,000 -- to Triangulation Strategies between October 10 and November 19:

October 10 (date of expenditure): $3,000 for “Email Communication”

October 14: $1,500 for “Email Communication/Banner Ad”

October 20: $1,500 for “Email Communication”

October 23: $3,000 for “Email Communication”

October 27: $1,500 for “Email Communication”

October 28: $1,500 for “Email Communication”

October 29: $1,500 for “Phone Communication”

October 31: $1,500 for “Email Communication” and $1,500 for “Banner Ads”

November 1: $1,500 for “Email Communication/Banner Ad”

November 12: $1,500 for “Email Communication”

November 13: $1,500 for “Email Communication”

November 18: $1,500 for “Email Communication”

November 19: $1,500 for “Email Communication”

Triangulation Strategies and Morris

Media Matters found ample evidence of links between Morris and Triangulation Strategies:

• In an October 13 form filed for an October 10 expenditure, the National Republican Trust PAC listed the “Mailing Address” for Triangulation Strategies as “dickmorris.com.”

• In other FEC expenditure forms, the National Republican Trust PAC listed a South Salem, New York, address as the “Mailing Address” for Triangulation Strategies. The South Salem address belongs to Morris and his wife and frequent collaborator, Eileen McGann, according to WhitePages.com.
• In a 2008 FEC form, the unsuccessful 2008 congressional campaign of Mark Zaccaria (R-RI) listed a $6,000 disbursement to Triangulation Strategies on October 2. The “Mailing Address” for Triangulation Strategies was listed as the South Salem address, and the description of the disbursement read: “Partial Pymt - Dick Morris Fee for Event.” Zaccaria held a September 29 fundraiser with Morris.
• “Triangulation” is a term frequently associated with Morris. Morris referred to “triangulation” as “my theory” in his 2004 book Rewriting History. Journalist Bob Woodward wrote in his 1997 book The Choice: “Lots of names would be applied to Morris's strategy. The most common was 'triangulation,' an alternative to the rigid orthodoxy of either conservatism or liberalism.”

Morris and the National Republican Trust PAC

Morris' email newsletter has frequently featured paid advertisements by the National Republican Trust PAC. Morris' newsletter included the following ad text twice in at least four emails: “Help the GOPTrust Pac Expose Obama And Rev. Wright In Key Swing States -- Watch The Ad That Will Run In Battleground States -- Go Here Now!” The ad text linked to GOPTrust.com. The emails that featured the ad text were sent on November 3, October 31, October 29, and October 28. (Screenshots of emails are included below). In each email, the following text appeared in the newsletter's footer: “Paid for by The National Republican Trust PAC. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.”

Morris also sent a November 12 email containing the following embedded advertisement for the National Republican Trust PAC:

The PAC has cited Morris' recommendation and his prominence on Fox News in its literature and fundraising efforts. For example, executive director Scott Wheeler wrote in a fundraising letter about the Georgia Senate race: “Fox News analyst Dick Morris calls us at the National Republican Trust the 'most important group now in the Republican Party, our version of Moveon.org but more effective.' ” Additionally, in an undated press release headlined “Dick Morris Praises National Republican Trust PAC,” the PAC wrote:

One of the nation's leading political strategists, Dick Morris,
has praised the National Republican Trust PAC.

Morris says: "The National Republican Trust is a very effective organization that can make a huge difference on election day."

Dick Morris, a columnist, bestselling author, and Fox News analyst, has been widely recognized for his help to Bill Clinton in his comeback victory in the 1996 election. Later, Morris became a fierce critic of the Clintons.

Today, he warns that Barack Obama will be a dangerous pick come election day. Morris says Obama's plan to raise taxes will push the country from recession to depression.

“We are please [sic] that someone as respected as Dick Morris values our group and strategy,” Scott Wheeler, executive director of the National Republican Trust PAC said. [Emphasis in original.]

Neither the letter nor the press release indicated that the National Republican Trust PAC has placed ads in Morris' newsletter and has paid a company apparently connected to Morris.

Morris has praised or touted GOPTrust.com in a number of venues across several media. Between October 27 (when Morris first began talking about GOPTrust.com, according to a Nexis search) and November 17, Morris has referred to GOPTrust.com in appearances, writings, or quotes in the following outlets:

• Thirteen appearances on Fox News
• Four columns posted on DickMorris.com
• Two columns for The Hill
• One quote for a Newsmax.com article, the entirety of which was about Morris' claim that a GOPTrust.com ad contributed to “a seismic shift for [Sen. John] McCain” in an October 31 Zogby poll
• One syndicated column for Creators Syndicate
• One column for the New York Post

On Fox News

Morris has mentioned GOPTrust.com in at least 13 appearances on Fox News. During these appearances, Morris has repeatedly promoted, praised, and fundraised for GOPTrust.com -- all while appearing as a Fox News “political analyst.” For instance:

• During the October 27 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, Morris was asked why the McCain campaign “refuse[d]” to “bring back Reverend Jeremiah Wright” as a campaign issue. Morris replied, in part: “I have a solution. There is a group called GOPTrust.com, GOPTrust.com. That is an independent expenditure accepting contributions, if you know what I mean, folks, who are running the world's best anti-Reverend Wright ad. It's a 30-second spot. It includes all the stuff that needs to be done in battleground states. They only have a million bucks for this right now. If they had 2 million, they could do a huge amount to swing this election.”
• During the October 27 edition of Hannity & Colmes, Morris said that “there's a courageous group of people called GOPTrust.com ... that is accepting private contributions to put 2 or $3 million of Reverend Wright on the air. That, plus this 'redistribution of income' issue, could mean the election.”
• During the October 30 edition of Hannity & Colmes, Morris claimed a GOPTrust.com ad “will have a huge effect on bringing senior citizens back into the [John] McCain camp” and asked viewers to “go online to GOPTrust.com and make it possible to run this ad all over the United States.”
• During the October 31 edition of Fox & Friends, Morris claimed McCain “can win this election. And the key to that I think are two issues: One is the Reverend Wright issue, where I hope people give funds to GOPTrust.com to get that issue out.”
• During the November 10 edition of Hannity & Colmes, Morris claimed that Republicans “need to develop grassroot structures, raise money for them, and run campaigns for conservative views, not necessarily Republican views, just like MoveOn.” Morris then described GOPTrust.com as the right's “equivalent of” MoveOn.org and later stated that "[w]e need groups like that to be the spokesmen."
• During the November 17 edition of Fox & Friends, Morris stated: “One of the things that I'm urging people to do is to go online right now to GOPTrust.com, which has raised half a million dollars for an independent expenditure in Georgia. They were the second-largest independent expenditure in the country during the general election. They were the guys that ran that Reverend Wright ad.”

On DickMorris.com

In a November 13 column also posted on Newsmax.com, Morris and McGann wrote:

Those of us who want to frustrate Obama's radical agenda are one election away from political impotence. Ted Stevens has just fallen 800 votes behind in the Alaska recount (hard to make up in a tiny state) and Coleman is clinging to just a 200 vote margin in Minnesota (tiny in a huge state) with the recount not yet even begun. So if we lose Alaska and Minnesota, Saxby Chambliss' seat in Georgia is the 60th vote to stop a filibuster. It all comes down to Georgia.

Read the rest of this column at your leisure, but right now, go online and click on GOPTrust.com and donate to run their scathing ad attacking Chambliss' opponent, liberal Jim Martin. Our ability to stop the evisceration of talk radio, the flooding of our health care system by 47 million new patients (including illegal immigrants), the repeal of the Patriot Act, the release of the terrorists now under lock and key at Guantanamo, the prolongation of the recession by Obama's plans for steep tax increases all this is at stake!

With Georgia, we can do a great deal to tone down the Obama legislation. We can filibuster budget bills and demand a repeal of the Fairness Doctrine to muzzle talk radio as the price for letting them pass. We can block watering down of national security legislation. But without Georgia, we are totally helpless (unless the recounts in Minnesota and Alaska happen to go our way).

While Georgia is a red state, having voted for McCain, it has a large minority base in liberal Atlanta and the Democrats have proven their ability to get out their vote. Obama's entire political machine - which outdueled the Republican Party in the election - will now move down to Georgia. They know that his ability to govern without legislative fetters teeters in the balance.

We can't just sit back and let the Republican Party do its thing. We already have seen where that gets us! Conservatism is too important to leave to the Republican Party. That's why we need to go directly to GOPTrust.com and give them funds that go directly on the air in Georgia with no middlemen or censorship. And we need to do it fast!

In a November 12 column, Morris wrote:

With the election a week old, Norm Coleman's lead in Minnesota keeps dropping with each day. And now, for the first time, the official recount is underway. Is the left stealing votes? One get suspicious when every day brings new ballots that favor Franken over Coleman.

There is nothing we can do about Minnesota (or Alaska, where Stevens' margin is under attack as well) but there is a great deal we can -- and must -- do to protect the 60th Republican seat in Georgia.

Saxby Chambliss won with less than 50% of the vote on Election Day and now faces a runoff on December 2nd. His opponent, Jim Martin, is a traditional liberal Democrat who will be a rubber stamp for Harry Reid in squelching Republican filibusters of Democratic tax and spending legislation. We must keep Chambliss in office!

Please take the time to go to GOPTrust.com and donate money for an independent expenditure for Chambliss to keep the Democrats shy of the 60 votes they need to rule the nation. With Chambliss' vote, we can be secure that the socialist agenda of Obama will not pass Congress. Rarely has so much ridden on one vote. If the Democrats, who have already won 57 seats in the Senate, can reverse the counts on Stevens and Coleman, they will have 59 votes. Chambliss is the 60th.

There are only three weeks until the runoff election. Democrats, aided by ACORN, specialize in maximizing the turnout among liberals and minorities. We need to fund the conservative opposition to stop them from taking the decisive seat in the Senate. Please donate now to GOPTrust.com so we can wage this battle....and win!

In a November 11 column also posted on Newsmax.com, Morris and McGann wrote:

Conservatives should go online, right now, and donate to GOPTrust.com. Only a group like this one, which sponsored the Rev. Wright ads that delivered all the undecided vote to McCain in the election, has the flexibility and focus to do what the Republican Party should be doing on its own. And we cannot sit back and let complaisance and over confidence lead us to another Election Day debacle.

Georgia went for McCain, of course, but it is ominous that even though the Republicans carried the state by 6 points that Chambliss fell short of the vote he needed to avoid a runoff. To assure that the Democrat -- a liberal named Jim Martin -- doesn't win this seat, too, we have to mobilize to get Georgians to see Martin for the liberal he is. Martin is a straight party-line Democrat who can be counted on to do Harry Reid's bidding. It is time to discard to lame approach Republicans so often take and come out swinging. That's why GOPTrust.com plans to do if they get enough in voluntary donations.

The Obama victory really started with the organization of Moveon.org in the bitter climate of Clinton's impeachment. Since then, the left-wing cyber-roots groups have amassed millions of e names, piled up hundreds of millions in contributions, and mobilized and expanded their base. It is through groups like GOPTrust.com that we, conservatives, must go through the same process if we are to take our country back.

But right now, the key battleground is Georgia and we have to hold the line there.

In a November 3 column, Morris and McGann wrote:

It's only a one night poll, but John Zogby reports that his Friday night survey shows McCain leading Obama by 48 to 47. It's only a one night poll (as opposed to the usual three day moving average) but it is 1,000 interviews. It is also over Halloween night! But it is the first poll in three weeks that shows McCain leading. What's up? We think that the advertisement being run by GOPTrust.com is having an effect. It is an ad featuring Rev. Jeremiah Wright decrying America and calling it “the USA of KKK” while Obama sat, deaf-mute in the congregation. By bringing the shocking reality of Rev. Wright back to America's TV screens; GOPTrust.com is performing an important public service. It is just not credible that Obama sat in the congregation for twenty years, asked the Reverend to officiate at his wedding and to baptize his children, titled his book after one of his sermons, and did not know the kind of vile, anti-American hatred he was spewing.

Because of private donations (which they can still receive and usefully spend until Monday morning) GOPTrust.com may have changed the entire election of 2008. Their courageous willingness to face up to what Rev. Wright says and what Obama apparently tolerates may finally be awakening the American people to the danger they face in the Obama candidacy. GOPTrust.com has raised $9 million so far. The amount that they are spending in the last four days on their ad (see it on GOPTrust.com) exceeds the amount being spent on any single McCain ad. It is fundamentally changing this election.

Tuesday is Election Day. But if Americans want to stop the Obama express from changing this nation in ways we can only begin to anticipate, it is important to go online to GOPTrust.com and donate funds to bring the message to the American people.

There is still time.

Notably, in the DickMorris.com columns above, every mention of GOPTrust.com includes a link to the organization's website.

On TheHill.com

In a November 11 column also posted on Newsmax.com, Morris wrote:

The message for conservatives is clear: The focus of Democrats on grassroots activism, begun in 1998 by MoveOn.org, was crucial to the Obama election. Instead of relying on the Republican Party to carry the message to the electorate, conservatives must organize their own grassroots movements -- like GOPtrust.com -- and boost turnout and enthusiasm among those who share their worldview. The backbreaking tasks of registering voters and getting out the vote are key to winning elections in the post-media era. Online networking and building of cyber-roots organizations is the way to go in competing in the new politics we face today.

Will the Republican Party get its act together to compete? Who knows. Will conservatives take matters into their own hands and build the kind of organization and Internet base that the liberals have over the past 15 years? They better. Unless we want to witness a fundamental change in our laws, society and culture, conservatives had better get busy and emulate their leftist brethren in building organizations to tap into their base. In the '80s, groups like the National Rifle Association and the Moral Majority filled this need. Today, new groups must move to the fore to fill the void. And they better do it fast!

In a November 5 column also posted on Newsmax.com on November 6, Morris wrote:

But the Republicans must learn the lesson of MoveOn.org. Founded in the bleak days of the Clinton impeachment, MoveOn developed a grassroots Internet base. Building up its e-list of activists and contributors, MoveOn laid the basis for the incredible Internet appeal of the Obama campaign. At last count, Obama has 4.5 million donors, most online.

Conservatives cannot count on the Republican Party to fight their battles for them, and certainly cannot count on them to win. The right needs to develop cyber-roots conservative organizations to rival the power of groups like MoveOn.org. The stellar efforts of NewsMax.com and its ally, GOPtrust.com, illustrate the power of such efforts. Together, these groups raised $10 million for an independent expenditure on media in swing states featuring the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's anti-American bombast.

And their efforts worked.

Virtually all the polls agreed that Obama would win 52-53 percent of the vote, but the surveys varied in the amount of undecideds they found. On Election Day, virtually every undecided voter went to McCain, and Obama's final vote share was no more and no less than the 52-53 percent the surveys had predicted. This unanimity among undecided voters is attributable to the endgame of groups like GOPtrust.com and NewsMax.com.

These groups have to lead the way in running media to battle against the leftist legislation that will undoubtedly emanate from the Obama administration and the liberal Congress America has just elected. Then they can become the basis for a Republican resurgence, just as MoveOn.org was this year for the Democrats.

Other publications

A November 1 Newsmax.com article -- headlined “Zogby Shocker: McCain Leads Obama In Latest Poll” -- quoted Morris touting GOPTrust.com:

Dick Morris tells Newsmax that Friday night's polling for Zogby of 1,000 likely voters shows a huge shift for John McCain.

Zogby's poll, conducted on Friday night only, has McCain at 48 percent and Obama, at 47 percent.

Zogby's overall poll has Obama with a lead, but that's based on a three-day average that includes Wednesday and Thursday polling data.

“There is a seismic shift for McCain,” Morris told Newsmax. “It could turn into an earthquake this weekend.”

“I think a large of the credit [sic] goes to GOPTrust.com for its courageous use of the Rev. Wright ad and the many tens of thousands who have donated almost $9 million before election day," Morris said.

In an October 30 New York Post column -- also posted on Newsmax.com on October 31 -- Morris and McGann wrote:

In each news cycle, Obama is on the defensive - staving off accusations of closet socialism and trying to wriggle out of his once overt advocacy of income redistribution. “Spreading the wealth around” has become the anti-Obama slogan - and might become the epitaph for his candidacy, just as “brainwashed” was for George Romney and “Where's the beef?” was for Gary Hart.

And, as we head to Halloween, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's image is returning to haunt Obama. Yes, McCain refused to use the issue in his own campaign - but independent groups like goptrust.com are using funds from tens of thousands of individual donors to run ads featuring Wright and his relationship with Obama. Just yesterday, a tape surfaced in which Obama described Rev. Wright as “the best the black church has to offer.”

The double dose of Obama's support for spreading the wealth around and his affiliation with the toxic Rev. Wright are eroding his once-formidable lead.

In his October 29 Creators Syndicate column, Morris, with McGann, wrote:

The only time the issue has been used was during the Democratic primary, when Obama's ties to Wright were first revealed and the reverend's horrific anti-American sermons were aired on television.

Even then, Obama tried to distance himself from Wright in the mildest of possible terms, only denouncing him more sternly after the relationship had begun to sap his standing in the polls.

Fortunately, one independent expenditure group -- NationalRepublicanTrust.com -- has the courage to bring the truth about Wright to the attention of the American people. NationalRepublicanTrust.com has prepared a hard-hitting advertisement that features some of Wright's worst rantings and explains the intimate relationship over 20 years between the preacher and the politician. NationalRepublicanTrust.com, of course, is funded by individual donations, so their financial resources are limited.

As we enter the final week, this election is not yet over. Zogby shows Obama's lead collapsing from 12 points on Thursday of last week to just five points over this past weekend. Other polls have Obama's lead in the 5 to 7 point range, little enough ground to close in six more days. Only surveys that have quotas for large number of Democratic participants show Obama's lead to be in double digits.

But McCain will not win with one hand tied behind his back. So now is the time for all good Republicans to come to the aid of their party and run the ads that should be run to defeat Barack Obama.

From Morris' November 3 newsletter:

From Morris' October 31 newsletter:

From Morris' October 29 newsletter:

From Morris' October 28 newsletter:

From the November 17 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:

MORRIS: Let me just say this, though, about the Senate, because this is the most important thing imaginable right now.

BRIAN KILMEADE (co-host): OK.

MORRIS: The Republicans have lost 57 seats. Alaska looks like it'll be the 58th. Minnesota could be the 59th. We have no control over that. It all comes down to Georgia, Saxby Chambliss' race. If the Republican Party loses that election, and they might well -- Obama's flooding it with resources -- the Republican Party might as well crawl -- curl up into a fetal position and die.

GRETCHEN CARLSON (co-host): Hmm-mm.

MORRIS: It has no power over two years, and that run-off is December 2nd. One of the things that I'm urging people to do is to go online right now to GOPTrust.com, which has raised half a million dollars for an independent expenditure in Georgia. They were the second-largest independent expenditure in the country during the general election. They were the guys that ran that Reverend Wright ad.

STEVE DOOCY (co-host): Oh, yeah.

MORRIS: We have got to win Georgia. If we don't win Georgia, we won't recognize this country when it's finished.

From the November 12 edition of Fox News' America's News HQ:

HEATHER NAUERT (host): A couple more things. You say that ACORN made a huge difference.

MORRIS: That's what I'm saying.

NAUERT: Republican turnout dropped, as you just mentioned. But this is an interesting one. Everyone knows about the website MoveOn.org, right, run by George Soros and so forth. You say that that was absolutely crucial to Obama winning because instead of relying on the Democratic Party, the DNC, to get out the message, there was this third-party group --

MORRIS: Exactly.

NAUERT: -- that could do it, and Republicans don't have the same kind of thing.

MORRIS: Exactly. These people have been working for 15 years. They started during the Clinton impeachment, building up their grassroots network. And they didn't pay any attention to the Democratic Party. They just went out and did it.

And there were 6 million newly registered voters. Now, we don't know how many of those 6 million voted, but the turnout was 4 or 5 million more than it was four years ago. And I'll bet that a huge proportion of that were the newly registered voters, 'cause they had just registered for the first time. And that is ACORN and MoveOn.

The Republican Party needs to develop its equivalent of those groups. Lately, I've been talking a lot about a group called GOPTrust.com, which did those --

NAUERT: But that has “Republican” in the name --

MORRIS: Yeah, but --

NAUERT: -- so, reporters and people out there wouldn't necessarily, you know --

MORRIS: No, but --

NAUERT: -- give it a whole lot of credibility. MoveOn at least --

MORRIS: I don't care about reporters.

NAUERT: Yeah.

MORRIS: I care -- they have 40,000 contributors. They're the ones who said, “I don't care that McCain doesn't want to use Reverend Wright, we're going to put him on the air.” And they ran $10 million of ads on Reverend Wright. Now, they're going into Georgia to re-elect Saxby Chambliss. And I think that what the -- conservatism is too important to leave it to the Republican Party.

NAUERT: All right.

From the November 10 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:

MORRIS: You know, the Republican Party has to do what the Democrats did with MoveOn.org. They need to develop grassroot structures, raise money for them, and run campaigns for conservative views, not necessarily Republican views, just like MoveOn did for liberal views that weren't necessarily Democratic views.

This group, GOPTrust.com, which we'll talk about in the next segment in the Georgia race, that's the --

SEAN HANNITY (co-host): I love how you prepare the next segment. You crack me up.

MORRIS: -- that's the -- that's the nucleus. That's the nucleus of the Republican equivalent to MoveOn.org.

[...]

MORRIS: We know that there's a discontent with Chambliss. We have to make sure that there's more of a discontent with [Jim] Martin [D], his opponent.

And this group, GOPTrust.com, that brought the Reverend Wright issue out and, I think, had a huge amount to do with the undecideds all going for McCain, is now doing independent expenditures in Georgia.

And I think this group is the equivalent of the MoveOn.org, only for the right. And I think that we can no longer trust the Republican Party to be the spokesmen for conservatism.

ALAN COLMES (co-host): Hey --

MORRIS: We need groups like that to be the spokesmen.

From the November 3 edition of Hannity & Colmes:

HANNITY: Dick, you've been an advocate saying that -- and you've supported this group that has been running these independent ads bringing up the issue of Reverend Wright again.

MORRIS: Right.

HANNITY: You think it's been a mistake.

MORRIS: GOPTrust.com.

HANNITY: Well, there's a new ad that's out, that's running in Pennsylvania. I want to run it for you and see if you think this could help what is now a Rasmussen, four-point race in the state of Pennsylvania, you know, where -- by the way, where bitter Americans are, cling to their guns and religion.

From the October 31 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:

MORRIS: Now, the other thing that's happening is senior citizens are moving the other way. They're moving to Obama. And I think he gained 11 points among the elderly in the Fox News poll. And I think the reason for that is that they're being scared by the Social Security issue that Obama is pressing heavily in negative ads, accusing McCain of supporting the Bush privatization plan.

Now, I believe that there's an antidote coming. That group that we talked about two days ago, GOPTrust.com.

BILL O'REILLY (host): The PAC group that's not associated with John McCain's campaign --

MORRIS: Right.

O'REILLY: -- but they're rooting for McCain. They don't like Obama. What are they doing?

MORRIS: I called them today, and I asked them, “How much media you buying over this weekend?”

O'REILLY: Yeah.

MORRIS: And they told me $6 million --

O'REILLY: Big, big bucks.

MORRIS: -- of ads Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday.

O'REILLY: Right.

MORRIS: Twice what Obama spent on his infomercial. So if you have a saturation of Reverend Wright, a guy named --

O'REILLY: That's the ad they're going to run, the Reverend Wright ad?

MORRIS: Exactly. A guy named Bill O'Reilly told me when that ad -- when that issue broke, “This is it for the folks.” And I've always believed that.

O'REILLY: It's true.

[...]

O'REILLY: I want a clean election. I'm not rooting for anyone. But, you know, just for the sake of debate here --

MORRIS: But this group, GOPTrust.com, that is basically financed by individuals who are contributing money --

O'REILLY: Yeah, those ads could be big.

MORRIS: It's unbelievable. They will have more in ads probably than McCain will over this weekend.

O'REILLY: All right, and it's all about Reverend Wright for them.

MORRIS: Yeah.

O'REILLY: Interesting.

MORRIS: All the time.

O'REILLY: All right, Dick, we'll see you next week.

From the October 31 edition of Fox News' America's Election HQ:

MORRIS: Among the senior citizens, though, I think that fears over Social Security are driving them to Obama. I think that Obama has some negative ads linking McCain to the Bush Social Security reform, and I think those are being very effective.

But there's a new development going on. There's this group called GOPTrust.com that I've been following all week. They told me earlier today that they are putting $6 million of advertising of Jeremiah Wright on in swing states in the next four days.

NAUERT: On television or on the Web?

MORRIS: On TV. TV -- broadcast TV.

NAUERT: But couldn't that backfire?

MORRIS: Well, we'll see, but I think that it's a pretty good move. And you go to GOPTrust.com, and you can see the ad. And from individual donors, in five days, they have raised $7.7 million.

NAUERT: Wow. We'll have to check that one out.

From the October 29 edition of The O'Reilly Factor:

O'REILLY: Continuing now with our Campaign '08 coverage: As we predicted, some Republicans have resurrected Reverend Wright just in time for Halloween.

[begin video clip]

NARRATOR: For 20 years, Barack Obama followed a preacher of hate and said nothing as Wright raged against our country.

WRIGHT: Not “God bless America.” “God damn America.” [break] U.S. of KKKA.

NARRATOR: He built his power base in Wright's church. Wright was his mentor, adviser, and close friend. For 20 years, Obama never complained until he ran for president. Barack Obama: too radical, too risky. The National Republican Trust PAC is responsible for the content of this advertisement.

[end video clip]

O'REILLY: And then the group ACORN has decided to fight back.

NARRATOR [video clip]: It happened to him in 1960, in 1965, and again in 2000. He was intimidated, so he wouldn't vote. This year, they're at it again. John McCain and the Republicans are trying to keep him and untold others from voting. Tell John McCain, “not this time.” ACORN: Voting is your right. Protecting it is our job.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now is responsible for the content of this advertising.

O'REILLY: OK, so you can see where this is going. Now, joining us from Detroit to analyze, Dick Morris, whose book Fleeced is still, after all these months, selling very well. So, Obama's anecdote to the -- and that was not a McCain ad about Reverend Wright. That was a PAC. That was somebody --

MORRIS: Right.

O'REILLY: -- supporting this --

MORRIS: Group called GOPTrust.com paid for it.

O'REILLY: Right. McCain didn't have anything to do with that. But Obama's trying to blunt, you know, McCain's rise in the polls a little bit. We don't know how much.

[...]

O'REILLY: But, see, I -- here, I see it a little bit differently than you. I see fear driving everything in this election -- fear. And now the fear winds are going against -- and I can point to the Rasmussen poll that is out tomorrow, we got an exclusive on this. First time Americans feel McCain is better on the economy than Obama. First time.

MORRIS: And that's why -- that's why McCain is right for staying on the tax issue. And these independent groups like this GOPTrust.com are right for going after Wright, because it raises that fear factor. You know, I was just reading history of the Great Depression earlier today.

O'REILLY: You're an exciting guy. Did anybody ever tell you that?

From the October 27 edition of Hannity & Colmes:

MORRIS: I believe John McCain should bring Reverend Wright back into this campaign, and McCain says he won't do it, and the Republican Party says they won't do it, but there's a courageous group of people called GOPTrust.com.

HANNITY: Sean -- what about me? I think I brought it up because it's -- we broke the Reverend Wright story.

MORRIS: Now -- but, Sean -- Sean, there's a group called GOPTrust.com that is accepting private contributions to put 2 or $3 million of Reverend Wright on the air. That, plus this “redistribution of income” issue, could mean the election.

From the October 27 edition of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto:

NEIL CAVUTO (host): But, could I ask you this, Dick? I mean, you don't have to be a Republican or a Democrat to, if you sense that capital gains taxes are going to go up on an Obama administration, and you're convinced, increasing by the polls, that there's going to be an Obama administration -- I don't care whether you're very liberal or very conservative -- you're going to want to save the 5 percent in taxes and get out now.

MORRIS: Yeah, exactly. But you know, I do just want to report that this election right now is in a state of enormous flux. It wasn't 48 hours ago and it might or might not have been 24 hours ago, but right now it is. Forty-eight hours ago, there was no sign of any Obama movement -- of any McCain movement. Obama was eight or 10 ahead in almost everybody's poll.

CAVUTO: Right, right.

MORRIS: Then, Zogby first reported a narrowing from a 12-point Obama lead to nine, and then yesterday to five. And today, Rasmussen, who'd had it at eight, also reported it at five, and Gallup that had it at six, now reports it at five --

CAVUTO: OK.

MORRIS: -- so you have the three most reliable --

CAVUTO: So, it could be --

MORRIS: -- tracking polls, Gallup, Rasmussen, and Zogby --

CAVUTO: -- could be a little more of a fight. All right.

MORRIS: -- all saying five.

CAVUTO: OK.

MORRIS: By the way, I just want to say, you were nice enough to mention Fleeced. I hope people go to it and read the first chapter. A third of all the Obama voters live with a McCain voter, and it's the McCain voter's job to read that stuff, stock up on ammunition, and win the breakfast table conversation.

CAVUTO: All right.

MORRIS: I also just want to mention he should bring back Reverend Wright as an issue.

CAVUTO: OK.

MORRIS: And if you go to GOPTrust.com --

CAVUTO: Oh, my goodness.

MORRIS: -- you can contribute to an independent expenditure that will put Reverend Wright back on TV.

CAVUTO: I wish I had more time. We've got breaking news coming in. You're very good at this, but I gotta go on to this.

From the October 31 edition of Fox & Friends:

MORRIS: But on the other hand, in voters over 65, Obama has gone from five ahead to 16 ahead -- an 11-point shift. Now, there are more people under 45 than over 65, so the gap overall is closing. But there are two very different trends going in different directions. I think the reason is, that among young people, the tax issue is really cutting. They are in the process of making their careers, getting together, starting out their lives and they're worried about the “spread the wealth” doctrine.

Among the senior citizens, I think that the Obama attack on McCain over Social Security, which I think is illegitimate, is really cutting among the elderly and could be very dangerous in Michigan, and Pennsylvania, and Florida. One of the things that I think McCain should -- or the McCain supporters should do, is there are still about two hours to contribute to GOPTrust.com, which is the independent expenditure group that is running the Reverend Wright advertisement. And I think that will cut very well among senior citizens.

PETER JOHNSON (guest co-host and Fox News legal analyst): What is the Reverend Wright --

MORRIS: And in light of this poll data --

JOHNSON: -- advertisement? What is that, Dick, the Reverend Wright advertisement?

MORRIS: They played it -- we talked about that yesterday. It's an advertisement that plays Reverend Wright with his footage on G.D. America and USA of KKK, and talks about the relationship between Wright and Obama. And it's something McCain has refused to do in this campaign and won't let the Republican Party do. But this independent expenditure group, GOPTrust.com --

JOHNSON: Dick, hold that -- hold that thought.

MORRIS: -- is doing it.

JOHNSON: Hold that thought.

MORRIS: OK.

JOHNSON: Hold that thought. Please stay with us. We're going to come right back in a few seconds -- more with Dick Morris, more about how this election is tightening up, and more about why.

[...]

MORRIS: My own analysis of the poll has been more focused on the age issue --

DOOCY: Sure.

MORRIS: -- although both things can be happening at the same time. And I was saying that among senior citizens, if McCain can get them back and keep the gains he's had among young people, he can win this election. And the key to that I think are two issues: One is the Reverend Wright issue, where I hope people give funds to GOPTrust.com to get that issue out, and the second is health care. In my book Fleeced, I described that if Obama extends health care to 47 million new Americans without expanding the number of doctors -- in fact they're contracting -- or nurses, you're going to force rationing.

From the October 30 edition of Fox & Friends:

MORRIS: Yeah, I think that Obama's really hurt himself on the income redistribution issue. I think that is cutting at him every single day. But the other thing that's cutting at him is Reverend Wright is coming back. McCain won't use him. The Republican Party is told by McCain not to use him. But there's an independent expenditure group -- I got the name wrong when I was on your show on Monday.

DOOCY: Hmm-mm.

MORRIS: It's GOPTrust.com. And now they've raised $4 million so far in private contributions, and they're running this wonderful ad. They played it on O'Reilly last night, where essentially they have footage of Reverend Wright and the voiceover talks about the relationship between the two of them. They're planning to raise $7 or $8 million, and wallpaper America in the swing states. They already have the time reserved with that advertisement over the closing four or five days.

DOOCY: Interesting.

MORRIS: And I think that can have a big effect. It was what crippled Obama in the primaries. And I think coming on top of the talk about income redistribution --

DOOCY: Hmm-mm.

MORRIS: -- and tax policy, I think it could be enormously effective.

DOOCY: All right, he's joining us this morning from a chilly Grand Rapids, Michigan. Dick Morris, we thank you very much. Check out his book. It is called Fleeced. Actually, he needs some fleece up there in Grand Rapids.

KILMEADE: It's cold.

DOOCY: It's a little on the chilly side. Thank you, Dick.

From the October 27 edition of Fox & Friends:

CARLSON: Welcome back everyone. America, of course, choosing a new president in only eight days: Can John McCain mount a comeback in this final week of campaigning? Dick Morris, a Fox News contributor and author, of course, of The New York Times best-seller Fleeced, joins me live from Dallas this morning. Good morning to you, Dick.

MORRIS: Good morning.

CARLSON: All right, news alert: If the McCain camp happens to be watching the show today, or any of their surrogates, pay attention, 'cause Dick Morris is about to give you the three top points of how McCain can win this election. Number one, Dick, is what?

[...]

CARLSON: All right, number two -- and this is a sticking point with the McCain camp -- is to bring back Reverend Jeremiah Wright, which, by many accounts was a bigger issue for Obama than Bill Ayers. Why do they refuse to do this, Dick, and do you think they will?

MORRIS: I don't think they will. McCain has refused to. He won't even let the Republican Party do it, but I have a solution. There is a group called GOPTrust.com, GOPTrust.com. That is an independent expenditure accepting contributions, if you know what I mean, folks, who are running the world's best anti-Reverend Wright ad. It's a 30-second spot. It includes all the stuff that needs to be done in battleground states. They only have a million bucks for this right now. If they had 2 million, they could do a huge amount to swing this election. Let's win this election despite John McCain.

From the October 30 edition of Hannity & Colmes:

COLMES: Joining us now is author of the best-selling book Fleeced, former Clinton adviser, Dick Morris. Dick, again, as a strategist, is talking about Wright, talking about [Bill] Ayers, doing this stuff again with a few days left, doing any good for the McCain campaign?

MORRIS: Yeah, the Wright thing certainly is. I had a conversation with this group, which is called GOPTrust.com, today. They told me that they've raised $4.5 million in the last few days.

They're raising money right now for the next 12 hours and they're hoping to come up with another $2 million. They are going to saturate all of the swing states and the networks with the ad you just saw.

Now, the polling, the Fox News poll, which shows Obama closing the gap from nine -- McCain closing it from 9 to 3, shows two completely different trends at work: Young people are turning away from Obama and toward McCain, driven by the tax issue. There are the -- people under 45 had gone for Obama by 16 points and now they're for McCain by 1 point. And that's largely because of the tax issue and the redistribution issue.

But at the same time, people over 65 have gone from being for Obama by 3 points to being for him by 15, driven probably by Obama's negative ads criticizing McCain over Social Security reform. This ad will have a huge effect on bringing senior citizens back into the McCain camp --

COLMES: All right. But is there enough time? Let's --

MORRIS: -- because it emphasizes the culture of disjuncture.

COLMES: You look at this --

MORRIS: And I hope that your -- I hope your viewers go online to GOPTrust.com and make it possible to run this ad all over the United States.