1	It looks like this year there's less anti-government sentiment than in recent years, do you think being a politician is now acceptable to voters?

JEFF GREENFIELD replies: I think compared to the last decade or more there's less politician-bashing than there was before. It reached a high point for me in 1996, when during his acceptance speech, Robert Dole never mentioned the fact that he served 36 years in the national legislature. You would've thought that at other times that would have been a fairly impressive point, but they felt that the country, and particularly the Republican Party, was so anti-government that he just kind of went from being a World War II veteran to running for President. It's a combination of the fact that the electorate is more content or less angry than it's been in a long time. Also that the party that traditionally bashes the government--the Republican Party--is running the Congressional operation. And it seems a little odd for them to be bashing the legislative branch of the government they now control. I think that it's a throwback to the old days when you see candidates walking down, especially the Capitol, with their sportcoats over their shoulder.		Quicktime movie RealVideo file

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