Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, senior scholar at the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development, is one of the most-quoted faculty members on campus, particularly during election seasons. Her spot-on observations on politics are sought out by reporters from coast to coast. She is the regular political analyst for KNBC Channel 4 in Los Angeles and writes a weekly online column for the station. On leave from teaching this semester (it’s election time), she talked about being a pundit, the Internet “pajamadeen” and her favorite Web sites, among other topics.

AE: What has surprised you most in the presidential race thus far?

SBJ: The drama and closeness of the Democratic nomination race. In the beginning, the entire race was seen as inevitable: Hillary Clinton versus Rudy Giuliani. The early line on this election was useless.

AE: Many professors believe that appearing in popular media, whether it’s newspapers, television or online, is not as valid as authoring a paper in a peer-reviewed academic journal. Your thoughts?

SBJ: There is a wonderful New Yorker cartoon. It’s a professor in his tweeds and loafers, and he’s looking totally distressed, saying ‘Oh my God, I have reached middle age and I have not yet been quoted in The New York Times.’ That’s what I have to say about that. I think that’s a bogus argument. It’s a bit snobbish.

AE: You have a real gift for explaining complicated issues in engaging ways that the average person can understand. Did you study creative writing?

SBJ: One of the most shaping experiences of my life was high school. I was in the first class of a special Humanities program at Trenton (N.J.) Central High School. For three years, we all had English, history and drama together. Much focus was placed on writing and articulating orally, and we had an extremely broad education in literature. The other really shaping experience was going to an all woman’s college, Goucher College, which is now coed.

AE: Is there a particularly memorable interviewer you recall?

SBJ: The interviewer who most impressed me with her breadth of knowledge and her depth of knowledge about California politics was Judy Woodruff, when she was on MacNeil/Lehrer. She asked the most thoughtful and thought-provoking questions. I spent the [gubernatorial] recall season as the recall analyst for the Today Show and was interviewed by Katie Couric, Matt Lauer and Lester Holt. Every one of them was a really good interviewer. You can tell who cares enough about California politics and government to learn about it before the interview.

AE: What are your opinions of the “pajamadeen” (bloggers who work from home in pajamas) and other online pundits who are changing social and political discourse?

SBJ: You cannot deny that blogs are having an impact politically. They really came of age during the 2004 presidential campaign. The bloggers, it can be argued, got Dan Rather, among others. Bloggers, because they are easily accessible, have had an impact on whom the media talks to and what goes into the mainstream media. The plus side is that it’s getting a lot of young people involved. The minus side is that they don’t have the foundation on which to judge what is being said. It concerns me that many people go to those blogs that only confirm their prejudices and ideology. And that’s not what I call knowledge.

AE: What are your favorite Web sites?

SBJ: The very best, the one I always look at, is Rough & Tumble (www.rtumble.com). It’s a roundup of all of the news about California politics and government for the day. I also look at ABC News’ “The Note,” which is probably the best broad look at what’s happening not only on the national level but on state levels. I look at The Washington Post and New York Times sites, not just their blogs, although I am getting a little hooked on The Washington Post’s politics blog “The Fix.”

AE: You’ve been interviewed in recent weeks on the First Amendment, ballot propositions, Gov. Schwarzenegger, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and his school takeover plan, campaign finance, the California Assembly and probably several other topics I’ve missed. How do you keep up?

SBJ: That’s what I do. I read and read and talk to people. Now that we’re in a gubernatorial campaign, I’ve been going out to observe the candidates at some of their campaign events. In the last couple of weeks, I went to the [Phil] Angelides press conference on the middle-class tax cut and Gov. Schwarzenegger’s press conference on Jessica’s Law, which was held with Rudy Giuliani. I went over to Trade Tech to see an education forum because I wanted to see Mark Warner, the ex-governor of Virginia who is being looked upon as a possible presidential candidate. And he was campaigning with Angelides, so I got a twofer on that one. And I went to the Republican State Convention, where Mitt Romney was the dinner speaker, so I got to see the governor do his luncheon speech and then Romney do his dinner speech. It’s very helpful to me.

AE: Are you a registered Democrat, Republican or Independent?

SBJ: I am registered ‘decline to state’ and have been for a while. My last partisan campaign was 1972, the McGovern California primary.

AE: Recently, you said there appear to be no rules for political spending, and billionaires are throwing huge amounts of money to back initiatives. Do you think the initiative process works as a democratic check and balance on legislators?

SBJ: Initiatives weren’t exactly supposed to be a democratic check and balance on the legislature. They were supposed to be an end run around the legislature by citizens who were shut out of the process. They’ve become an end run by interests that have the money and the organization to do it. Ordinary citizens can’t qualify an initiative anymore. It costs too much. And they certainly can’t pay for the media campaign that’s necessary to get the point across.

AE: You teach an undergraduate course on politics and public policy and a graduate seminar on communicating public policy. Any other classes you’d like to teach?

SBJ: There are many. One I’m hoping at some point to develop is a class on the nexus between policy and political campaigns. And one of my favorite classes to teach is “American Politics and Film.”

AE: You showed me a picture of your adorable dog, Casey. Does he keep you company when you are on the computer?

SBJ: Sometimes I catch him on the computer. He’s part Staffordshire terrier and part dalmatian. Of course he keeps me company. Bill Schneider at CNN is Casey’s godfather, as he has been for every one of our dogs. There’s a running joke between us. I refer to Bill as the Sherry Jeffe of the East Coast, and he refers to me as the Bill Schneider of the West Coast.

AE: How does this presidential race compare with others you’ve observed?

SBJ: I haven’t seen a race with such electricity and enthusiasm since 1968, when Eugene McCarthy and Bobby Kennedy were running. When I was on the ground in Iowa and in New Hampshire this year, I saw the energy and commitment of a whole new wave of younger people, which I haven’t seen since 1968, when I was one of them.