Analyst says Bush needs `miracle' to win re-election

[Nambe]

The Gadsden Times

George W. Bush would need a "miracle" to win the presidential election as the war in Iraq becomes increasingly unpopular, a political analyst told members of the Business Council of Alabama.

Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said if the election was held now, Democratic nominee John Kerry "would win very handily." The war is the biggest factor hurting Bush's re-election chances, he said, noting that if the president hadn't ordered the U.S. invasion of Iraq last year, he likely would be leading in 45 states and heading toward a landslide victory.

"He really will need a miracle to win, and the last miracle was for Harry S. Truman," Sabato told the Birmingham News after his speech at the council's governmental affairs conference in Point Clear. Truman pulled his upset presidential victory in 1948. ..

Democratic Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley, who joined dozens of legislators listening to Sabato's speech, said his national perspective offered an interesting contrast to the view from Alabama, which tends to vote heavily Republican in presidential elections. ..
Ride Don’t Drive * * It’s Global Cool