In an appearance on NBC's Meet The Press (NYSE: GE), political analyst James Carville cited analysis that would please a political scientist regarding the factors likely to shape the 2008 presidential election, as his prediction was consistent with the most accurate theory regarding voting behavior. (Note: Carville has provided political advise to Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign to secure the Democratic Party's 2008 nomination for president.)
Carville said that objective economic events in this election cycle favor the party out of power. Those objective economic events? The housing slump, higher energy and food costs, and anemic job growth, conditions that are "presenting real economic hardship for many Americans." (Or as Carville would put it, in the 2008 election, as in the 1992 election, "It's the economy, stupid.")
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