Larry Sabato

About Larry Sabato

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," a "pundit[] with an opinion for every reporter’s phone call, "quick-quipping", and "hideously overquoted."

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.

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.