originally published in the Observer Magazine, March 2001 Volume 27, Number3

Shields Delights Audience with His Political Humor

As the November 2000 presidential election evolved into an unprecedented scenario of legal battles and chad-counting, political analyst Mark Shields brought his razor-sharp wit to the University of Hartford to try to make sense of it all.

Shields, a veteran Washington insider, syndicated columnist, and political commentator, who regularly appears on "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer" on PBS and "The Capital Gang" on CNN, came to the University for an hour-long talk and a fund-raising dinner, sponsored by the Museum of American Political Life. His visit to Hartford on Dec. 4 could not have been better timed, coming in the midst of the postelection chaos surrounding the outcome of the Florida vote.

During his talk in Wilde Auditorium, Shields delighted the audience with a continuous stream of anecdotes and one-liners that were both extremely funny and brimming with political insight.

"I've been in Washington so long, I can remember when the Oval Office was used to raise money and the Lincoln bedroom was used for sex," he quipped.

Shields said that the 2000 election was unusual in that it reflected a desire for both continuity and change. Voters wanted to continue the nation's economic prosperity, but they wanted a change in leadership, he said.

American voters have always been motivated by two factors - optimism and pragmatism - and historically, they have always chosen the party that best represents those qualities, regardless of ideology" he said. "What do Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton have in common? A relentless, incurable, indomitable optimism."