Robert Novak, political commentator and journalist, introduced himself last night as Washington's "Prince of Darkness."

"I favor low taxes and smaller government, which is pretty unpopular in Washington. A lot of people say I see the glass half-empty instead of half-full -- but it actually depends on what issue I am looking at," he said.

The first in this year's Distinguished Speakers Series, Novak centered his lecture on politics and the upcoming presidential election.

After listing his "most frequently asked questions," Novak started to focus his speech with the last question, "Who will be elected president?"

With a few jokes and a couple tense moments, Novak expressed his opinions to a full Eisenhower Auditorium audience of students, faculty and locals.

Novak, a host of CNN's Crossfire, began by listing poll statistics on which demographic would most likely vote for each candidate.

"It's the same debate we've been having for approximately 200 years: Is government something we need to get by or something we need to get out of the way? That is the difference between the parties, between the candidates, between red and blue," he said.

Novak's next points highlighted the issues for the presidential debates, the first of which will be tonight at 9.

He said the economy and budget deficit will not be issues -- the debate will focus on the main issue of this campaign -- Iraq and the war on terror.

"The issue these candidates need to appeal with to get elected is Iraq, but Sen. Kerry has a hard time talking about it; President Bush has a hard time talking about it ... people can't comprehend why we are in Iraq," Novak said.

Novak, who has covered presidential debates since 1960, explained how the candidates could use the debates to their benefit and also how the debates could hurt them. "Debates are a matter of confidence ... President George W. Bush has more confidence, but I believe, not as an insult, he has the smallest vocabulary any president of the United States has ever had. Kerry is kind of strange and he is worse off -- he makes a lot of mistakes," he said.

Novak emphasized that many voters have already decided whom their vote will go to. The debate is really only important for about 2 percent of the voters, the undecided ones, he said.

Before opening the floor to questions, Novak left the audience with his thoughts on the presidency.

"It's not how you work; the job is one of leadership and inspiration ... you need to be able to inspire people to work. Sen. Kerry doesn't look to most Americans like he could," he said.

During the question-and-answer period Novak expanded on some of his personal views, particularly on the war in Iraq and voting.

"It's a strong move for whoever wins the election to get our troops out of there ... we don't want to lose 33,000 troops. Saddam is gone; there is no question he was trying to get weapons of mass destruction, but it's not our job to stay there," he said.

On voting, Novak emphasized his respect for the "privilege" of voting and his feelings about non-voters.

"People who don't want to vote shouldn't vote. If kids don't want to vote, then I'm not interested in them," he said.

Students seemed to enjoy hearing Novak's strong views.

"I thought he was outspoken and genuinely honest. He was good," Carla Schiano (senior-French and international business) said.

Matt Yanoff (senior-physics) said he was happy Novak was more opinionated and less focused on the president than he expected.

"He wasn't completely on par with the president, like Howard Dean will be about John Kerry, I think," he said.