Larry Sabato

Infobox Celebrity
name = Larry J. Sabato


imagesize = 350px
caption = Sabato (left) with guest lecturer Hillary Rodham Clinton during his American Politics 101 class on February 11, 2008.
birth_date = birth date and age|1952|08|7
birth_place = Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.
death_date =
death_place =
occupation = Professor
salary =
networth =
spouse =
children =
website = http://www.larrysabato.com
footnotes =

Larry Joseph Sabato (born August 7, 1952) is the Robert Kent Gooch Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia, director of their Center for Politics, and a political analyst. He has been called "the most-quoted college professor in the land," [ cite news
last = Perry
first = James M.
title = Sabato, `Dr. Dial-a-Quote' of Political Scientists, Dispenses Advice to Candidates, Spin to the Press
pages = A14
publisher = Wall Street Journal
date = 1994-07-18] a "pundit [] with an opinion for every reporter’s phone call, [http://www.ajr.org/article.asp?id=3857 Mark Francis Cohen, "The Quote Machines", American Journalism Review, Apr./May 2005] ] "quick-quipping", and "hideously overquoted." [http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:nAHUP2AM0f4J:www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/159614516.html+sabato+overquoted&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us&client=firefox-a Entrepreneur.com, (review of, and link to, Larry Sabato, "Just Can't Win", American Journalism Review, Feb./Mar. 2007), Entrepreneur Magazine, Feb. 2007] ]

Early life

Sabato grew up in Norfolk, Virginia, graduating from Norfolk Catholic High School in 1970. Four years later, he graduated from the University of Virginia. A 1974 "Cavalier Daily" poll showed more people could identify Sabato as student government president than could name Edgar F. Shannon, Jr. as University president. Sabato graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in government before studying at Princeton University. Following his study at Princeton, he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship that brought him to study at Queen's College at Oxford University.

Author

Sabato has authored over twenty books on politics, his best-known volumes including "Feeding Frenzy: Attack Journalism and American Politics" and "The Rise of Political Consultants: New Ways of Winning Elections". His most recent book, released in October 2007, is "A More Perfect Constitution". Other Sabato books include "The Sixth Year Itch: The Rise and Fall of the George W. Bush Presidency", "Divided States of America: The Slash and Burn Politics of the 2004 Presidential Election", and "Get in the Booth! A Citizen's Guide to the 2004 Election". He also issues a political newsletter, "Sabato's Crystal Ball". He has also written textbooks used by high school and college American government classes. He has been a frequent guest analyst on cable news outlets as well as radio programs.

Prior to his time as a political analyst, Sabato worked for nine years with Virginia Democratic politician Henry Howell. At the age of 15, Sabato joined Howell's first campaign for the Virginia governorship in 1968, and then worked on his successful run for lieutenant governor in 1971, and his campaigns for governor in 1973 and 1977.cite news
url=http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2006/11/02/COVER-Sabato-E.doc.aspx
title=Life of Larry: How Sabato faces the election
date=2006-11-02
work=The Hook]

He was classmates at the University of Virginia with former Senator George Allen. Sabato was the subject of controversy in 2006 when he appeared on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews and said that he knew Allen had used the word "nigger", but later admitted to the Hampton Roads "Daily Press" that he had never heard Allen say the word himself.

Predictions

In 2004, Larry Sabato's "Crystal Ball" website correctly predicted the outcome of 525 of the 530 political races, missing only one House race, one Senate race, one governor's race, and two states in the Electoral College.cite web |url=http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/article.php?id=LJS2004110901
title=A Look Back, A Look Forward
date=2004-11-09]

In August 2006, Sabato's "Crystal Ball" predicted that the Democrats would gain 29 seats in the House of Representatives and 6 seats in the Senate, which would provide them with a majority in both houses. Sabato's prediction that the Democrats would win back both houses proved correct; his Senate predictions were exactly correct and in the House, Democrats gained 29 seats on election night, the precise total predicted by the "Crystal Ball" (Democrats would go on to pick up a 30th seat in the December 12, 2006 run-off in Texas' 23rd district).cite web
url=http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=1031
title=News Networks Recognize Success of 'Sabato's Crystal Ball'
date=2006-11-10 ]

Professorship

Sabato has engaged in 30 years of research and taught more than 14,000 students. Supply of positions in Sabato's classes at the University of the Virginia is heavily outweighed by demand, with four applicants for every seat available in his upper-level Campaigns and Elections class. [http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2006/12/16/sidarth/ Michael Scherer, "Salon Person of the Year: S.R. Sidarth", Salon.com, December 16, 2006] ] In 2006, former Jim Webb campaign volunteer S.R. Sidarth, who had filmed Senator George Allen's 'macaca' slur on video, gained a spot in Sabato's class with a required essay that read only, "I am macaca."

In the mid-2000s, Sabato made a $1 million contribution to UVa, the largest gift ever by a faculty member.

Notoriety from Extensive Quoting

The "Wall Street Journal" refers to Sabato as "probably the most quoted college professor in the land." [http://www.centerforpolitics.org/about/staff_sabato.htm] ] His continuous appearances in print and on television political commentary shows have led to prominence and high-dollar billing on the paid speaking circuit.

Sabato is a favorite commentary source, or "dial-a-quote" for reporters on a deadline, because of his speediness in returning calls and ability to pontificate in small, convenient sound bites on a wide range of subjects. Because of this overuse, Sabato has been placed onto several news editors' official and unofficial blacklists of sources that should not be used by reporters. Notwithstanding this, the number of times he has been quoted annually has risen dramatically over the years: 78 times in 1992; 122 times in 1996; 179 in 2000; and 344 times in 2004. A 1996 New Republic article found that over the course of just one month, Sabato had been quoted as an expert on an astoundingly large range of political topics: " [Ross Perot| [Ross] Perot's] exclusion from the debates, Clinton's policy toward Iraq, Whitewater, Dole's attitude toward pot-smoking, Dick Morris, negative ads, (and) the continued relevance of political parties."

His ability to speak on a wide range of topics had led to a similarly wide range of titles for Sabato, including: an "an expert on political scandals" in an article about misdeeds in the Ohio GOP, a "congressional expert" when writing about a congressional election, an "expert on presidential affairs" when writing about a presidential visit, and "an expert in opinion and opinion making" when discussing Katie Couric's declining ratings.

A review by a journalist from Governing Magazine, the results of which were disputed by Sabato, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/14/AR2007011401124_pf.html Howard Kurtz, "Bill O'Reilly And NBC, Shouting to Make Themselves Seen?", Washington Post, Jan. 15, 2007] ] found that, during 2006, Sabato had been quoted in media sources based in at least 46 states and the District of Columbia, not including syndicated columns or wire-service articles, except where it was clear that the author was based in the state in question. [http://13thfloor.governing.com/2007/01/quote_larry_sab.html Josh Goodman, "Quote Larry Sabato, Ever More", Governing, 13th Floor blog, Jan. 9, 2007] ]

Sabato's ubiquitousness gave rise to the inside baseball name of a popular blog on Virginia politics, Not Larry Sabato, [http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4040 Marc Fisher,m "Blogging on the Hustings", American Journalism Review, Feb./Mar. 2006] ] which has been a source of amusement for Sabato. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/04/AR2005070401164_pf.html David Cho, "Politicians Deal With Newcomer, The Blog: Va. Candidates Find Help, Lies on Web", Washington Post, July 5, 2005] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.centerforpolitics.org/about/staff_sabato.htm Center for Politics bio]
* [http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/ Sabato's Crystal Ball]