Larry Sabato: Democrat or Republican?

[SyracuseDemocrat]

Poll question: Larry Sabato: Democrat or Republican?

I remember reading Sabato's crystal ball prediction site days before the election, and then reconsulting it after the fateful results of november 5th, 2002. Most of Sabato's picks were right on. He predicted Pryor to beat Hutchinson in AR, he predicted the Republicans to gain a few seats in the House, and he predicted that the Senate could swing either way. I have heard some people say that Sabato is a Republican, but I really do think that he is very nonpartisan when it comes to making political predictions. Have you heard anything different?

So, is Sabato a partisan Republican, a partisan Democrat, or neither?

[KC21304]

1. During Clinton impeachment he seemed to lean towards Repugs.

Could be he just disliked Clinton intensely. What I have heard from him since seems more balanced. Guess I would say neither but I am not firmly convinced.

[SyracuseDemocrat]

2. Here is what Sabato says on his Crystal Ball site

about the Cali recall. He sounds fairly nonpartisan to me.

"The Crystal Ball wants to state at the outset that, on principle, we oppose the recall. This Progressive Movement innovation of the early nineteenth century was to be used only in extremis. For example, the Progressives saw recall as a solution to rare political deadlock, say, a governor who was caught in a serious act of corruption, but who was not indicted or convicted, nor automatically removed from office under law nor impeached and convicted by the state legislature. The arguments used by the Progressives to support recall clearly focus on this combination of official corruption and the inability of the political system to correct that ill.

Nothing of the sort exists in California in 2003. Is Gray Davis a patently unappetizing politician? Has he almost consistently taken the low road in demonizing opponents and politicizing issues unnecessarily? Does he have a toll-booth for special interests in the governor's office, and actually enjoy the compromising fundraising that most politicians privately abhor? Yes, yes, yes, and definitely yes. But Californians elected him twice to the governorship, the second time just nine months ago when his failings were obvious even to pea-brains in the electorate. The arguments made about his 'corruption' strike us as exaggerations. The charges include mishandling of the state's energy crisis; Davis's intervention in the GOP primary to pick his 2002 opponent, when Davis's negative TV ads helped to defeat the stronger Republican opponent, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan; and hiding the real size of the state's mammoth $38 billion budget deficit until after election day. Oh, please. Many governors across the country have been guilty of the same political 'crimes', and they have not been recalled from office. While not admirable--little that Gray Davis does falls into that category--these stratagems are well within the loose ethical boundaries of modern-day politics."

http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/03gov_ca.htm

That does not sound like a Republican talking to me.

[joeybee12]

3. Don't know much about him, BUT

His comments about the Nazi's recall are right on. Come on, throw a dart on the map of the United States and you'll hit a state with a severe budget crisis and a very unpopular governor. But they don't have recall options so that the Republican scum can steal another election.

[jagguy]

4. he's from around here, he's a righty

but he does call them like he sees them for a living.