One political expert says last weekend’s capture of Saddam Hussein could have a major impact politically — with the Iowa Caucuses less than a month away. John Schmaltz is a political science professor at North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City. He says Saddam’s capture will give President Bush a big boost.Howard Dean, the perceived Democratic frontrunner, has been very vocal in his opposition to the war in Iraq. Schmaltz believes this probably will -not- hurt Dean’s bid for the Democratic nomination. He says the strong liberal base will still be motivated to turn out, despite Saddam’s capture.With the nation’s economy on the upswing, Schmaltz says politicians will have to find other issues on which to target Bush. If the capture of Saddam helps move along the reconstruction efforts, he says the Democratic challenger will have a tough task in unseating the President.Schmaltz says if he were running either the president’s campaign or the Democratic challenger’s campaign, right now he would rather be with President Bush.
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