TV host urges talking over political views

There is a "poisonous debate” in Washington right now, with lawmakers increasingly unable to find middle ground or even get along, Tim Russert, moderator of NBC's "Meet the Press” TV program, told more than 1,000 people Monday.

Russert spoke at the Civic Center Music Hall in Oklahoma City as part of the speaker series at Oklahoma State University Spears School of Business.

One reason for the increasingly divisive nature in Washington is the emergence of so many safe House and Senate districts, where incumbents are re-elected at high rates.

With such heavily Republican or Democratic districts, lawmakers no longer have to reach out to those in the opposite party or try to find common ground, Russert said in a news conference before his speech.

Voters must hold lawmakers accountable for seeking bipartisan solutions, and new thinking is needed more than ever with issues such as the Iraq war and health care coverage, he said.

State governments have been the example federal officials should look to, Russert said, pointing to California where a Republican governor has managed to work well with a Democratic Legislature.

Russert recently has been in the news himself as part of the I. Lewis "Scooter” Libby perjury and obstruction trial.

Libby contends he learned that Valerie Plame — the wife of a prominent war critic — worked at the CIA from Russert.

Libby has said that anything he told other reporters about Plame was just repeating what Russert told him.

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, New York Sen. Hilary Clinton and former vice presidential candidate John Edwards are the frontrunners in the Democratic nomination for the 2008 presidential contest, Russert said, but it is too early to count out other candidates.

"Anything is possible,” he said.

Russert did, however, make one solid prediction Monday.

"Oklahoma will go Republican in 2008,” he said.