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Larry Sabato

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Commentator

The Resume

    (August 7, 1952- )
    Born in Norfolk, Virginia
    Professor and political analyst
    Director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia
    Founded the 'Sabato's Crystal Ball' website and online newsletter
    Wrote or co-wrote the books 'Dirty Little Secrets: The Persistence of Corruption in American Politics' (1996), 'Peepshow: Media and Politics in an Age of Scandal' (2000), 'Feeding Frenzy: Attack Journalism and American Politics' (2000), 'Overtime! The Election 2000 Thriller' (2001), 'Divided States of America: The Slash and Burn Politics of the 2004 Presidential Election' (2005), 'The Sixth Year Itch: The Rise and Fall of the George W. Bush Presidency' (2007), 'A More Perfect Constitution' (2007), 'The Year of Obama' (2009) and 'Pendulum Swing' (2011)

Why he might be annoying:

    He relied on his BlackBerry so much he called it his CrackBerry.
    He has a reputation as a 'quote machine' for his willingness to opine on just about any issue.
    Asked by Chris Matthews if Senator George Allen had used racial epithets when Allen and Sabato were students at UVa, he replied, 'The fact is that he did use the n-word, whether he's denying it now or not.'
    Two days later, he admitted he had never personally heard Allen say the n-word.
    In one of the few Congressional races he got wrong in 2008, he predicted Virgil Goode would be re-elected despite declining poll numbers.
    Perhaps coincidentally, his Center for Politics had received $7 million in earmarks from Goode.
    He said about political pundits, 'People want to know, 'What does it all mean?' No one really knows, but some of us are better at pretending.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was a Rhodes scholar.
    He gets quoted so much partly because he is conscientious about returning calls from reporters.
    Tucker Carlson said, 'Larry can explain relatively complex topics in relatively simple terms. He's a great communicator.'
    He was recognized as the most accurate prognosticator by the Pew Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism for predicting the exact Democratic gains in the Senate and House (2006).
    In 2006, he said about Barack Obama, 'If he runs, he could shoot straight past Hilary Clinton to the nomination.'
    He was off by only one Electoral College vote in predicting the results of the 2008 presidential election.
    He said, 'My best intelligence comes from former students. I have students on both the Democrat and Republican sides, and they tell me which races are hot, which races are getting cold.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 15 Votes: 86.67% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 11 Votes: 27.27% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 38 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 13 Votes: 46.15% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 6 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 11 Votes: 54.55% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 32 Votes: 53.12% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 20 Votes: 55.00% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 17 Votes: 35.29% Annoying