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John Daley ReportingThe man who accurately predicted the giant shift in political power in last week's elections is in Salt Lake City today. We sent our John Daley up to the U of U to pick his brain on topics from Mitt Romney to campaign money.
When the dust settled after last Tueday's reality-shifting results President Bush and the GOP were wounded, the Dems triumphantand Larry Sabato hailed as "right on." He and his team at the University of Virginia called it by crunching the numbers on each race in the country.
Larry Sabato, Political Science Professor, Uni. of Virginia: "On the whole, democrats got the midterm reaction that one would expect, when you have an unpopular president and an unpopular foreign war." Question: The republican revolution, is it over? "The republican revolution is over for the time being, but revolutions die and they are reborn."
Massachusetts Governor and former Olympic chief Mitt Romney is regarded as articulate, charismatic, an able fundraiser. He's also a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and will have to win over conservatives in his own party.
Larry Sabato, Political Science Professor, Uni. of Virginia: "The problem for romney is that 35% or so of the delegates to the republican national convention are fundamentalist Christians, and to be blunt about it, most of them see Mormonism as a cult."
Sabato says his success could hinge on a "JFK moment" like when, in 1960, Kennedy, a Catholic, told Americans his politics were seperate from his religion.
Larry Sabato, Political Science Professor, Uni. of Virginia: "He can make it an issue of tolerance rather than an issue of Mormonism, per se."
On the issue of money in politics Sabato says the process is unfair, with powerful interests getting what they want through campaign contributions.
Larry Sabato, Political Science Professor, Uni. of Virginia: "It's an investment and they're investing a relatively small amount of money and reaping a whirlwind of cash reward."
The trouble, he says, is there's not much agreement about what to do about it.
Sabato, an author with a lengthy list of books he's written, is working on his next project. It's a book about the Constitution, spelling out his ideas for fixing what ails our political system. He thinks a new Constitutional Convention should be called to make some changes.
