Was there somebody who was
particularly
helpful or influential in getting you started in politics?
FORBES:
I didn't
intend to go in elective politics until more recent times, but I've
always
been interested in politics and that started with my father's
involvement
with politics. He was in the State Senate, he ran for governor of the
state,
he was one of the early drafters of Eisenhower in the state in 1952. So
I grew up in that kind of atmosphere.
In
terms of figures
today, I think that certainly the model for me and for the Republican
party
is what Reagan achieved in the 80s by demonstrating if you have a
compass
and a core--we all know life doesn't go in a straight direction--if you
have a sense of direction you can get a lot done. And there's been no
one
like him since or beforehand. I think over time his stature is going to
go up. I think you saw a little bit of that in that PBS documentary
they
did. Which was very different from a documentary they'd have done 10
years
ago on him. I think his greatness is becoming more and more apparent.
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What do you remember about
your first
campaign for public office?
FORBES:
There
are a lot of memories. I think the most pleasant ones were in Iowa and
New Hampshire and Arizona when we had the bus and were able to bring
the
kids out and my wife Sabina, and that gave it very much of an extra
dimension.
And I
think what
is good about the process we have now is that certainly in the early
contests
you have a chance to have an interaction, real face-to-face interaction
with real voters with real concerns, that you can't get in the larger
states
when you have to rely more and more on media… And I think the rest of
the
country looks upon those early contests as a good indicator of who they
should take seriously as a candidate. So I hope that isn't lost.
But
it may be.
California appears likely to move its presidential primary forward to
early
March…
FORBES:
That
is a very real threat to Iowa and particularly to New Hampshire. If
California
moves right up into that time zone so to speak, it's going to have a
huge
distortive impact. And I hope that there is enough time between the
early
contests and before you get into the mass media campaign so that people
can have a chance to se candidate in the flesh and blood and size them
up one by one.
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Are there any aspects of the
process
by which we elect our presidents that you think should be changed?
FORBES:
I think
you have to recognize when you have an open political system such as we
have, which is in contrast to what Europe has, their parliamentary
systems,
or even what Canada has which is a sort of federal parliamentary
system…
In a parliamentary system voters know who the candidates are long
before
you have the election. But you know who's the leader of the
Conservative
Party, who's the Labour prime minister, and so they know the
candidates.
In this country, you have to have a longer process because they're not
that familiar with those who emerge as candidates. So you do need to
have
a chance to have that unfold so that takes months rather than
weeks.
In
terms of the
process we have now, yes, they shouldn't bump too many primaries
together
so we should have it more spaced out like the early contests where we
have
one one week, one another week so that we can have a chance to compete
in these states. But the concept of having it open, having a chance
where
you can build up support and recognition, I think is absolutely
critical
to having citizen involvement.
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Describe
a defining
moment in your life.
One
defining
moment was when my children were born. We started off with twins, twin
daughters Sabina and Roberta. You're whole attitude in life changes
dramatically
because suddenly you realize what the word future means. That life
continues
long after you've left this earth. It's very sobering, it's very, in a
sense exciting. It's certainly been a transforming experience.
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