“I think we deserve a little more than what we’re getting,” Lieberman said during the annual Classes Without Quizzes, which also included Nate Persily, an election expert and former Penn Law professor, and Charles Hill, L’60, a diplomat in the Reagan administration and Yale professor.

Persily underscored Lieberman’s point by appearing to give the early edge to front-runners Hillary Clinton and Rudy Guiliani. Persily said Clinton is benefiting from strong party organization in many states, but does not stand to gain much new support because a percentage of voters do not like her and are unlikely to change their minds. On the Republican side, Persily dismissed talk that Guiliani is too liberal for the party’s base. “He is liked by Christian evangelicals” more than most of the other candidates, he said.