With the presidential caucuses and primaries on the minds of Iowans, many listeners turn to Iowa State political science professor Steffen Schmidt’s radio show, “Dr. Politics,” to fill their political prescription.

Schmidt has been an ISU professor since coming from Long Island University in 1970, and he’s been doing “Dr. Politics,” which is on WOI radio, for the past 15 years.

“We have an estimated audience of 40,000 people, and many of them are listening to [Schmidt]. He has been doing it for so long, he really takes care of it himself,” said Charity Nebbe, host of Talk of Iowa and the producer of “Dr. Politics” for the last two years.

She said much of the Talk of Iowa’s audience is tuned into Schmidt’s segment. As the producer, she helps choose the topics for the program and acts as a moderator between Schmidt and his guests, but with “Dr. Politics,” she leaves all up to him.

The audience of his program is very broad, but many are people driving and listening to the show. In fact, Schmidt said many of his callers are truck drivers calling on their cell phones.

However, Schmidt said he would like to see a larger listening audience from the ISU community.

“There are not that many students who listen or call. Many of them are busy at 10 o’clock on Tuesdays going to classes and labs,” he said.

The show is benefiting from a hectic political season with presidential candidates heating up their campaigns for the caucuses and primaries.

“Anything can happen and probably will,” he said. “[George W.] Bush and [Vice President Al] Gore could probably lose their momentum. Most people think it will come down to Bush and Gore next year, but it’s still a long way off. A lot of things can happen.”

Keeping momentum seems to be a concern for Bush, especially after he failed a world leader pop quiz given to him by a Boston reporter on Friday. However, Schmidt said the quiz was unfair because most people could not answer such questions.

“Everyone says that it was not fair, but Bush did not handle it well. He did not have to answer the questions, but he needed to come out looking cool. He did not seem in control or confident, and therefore, the quiz hurt him,” Schmidt said.

Although the election is almost a year away, the pace will be picking up shortly. The caucuses start much earlier this year. The state of Iowa will hold the first caucus on Jan. 24.

“Next year, things start very, very fast. There is not a lot of time left,” Schmidt said.

Because of the speed at which the caucuses and polls are coming, Schmidt has made an effort to try to get all the candidates to do a segment on his show. In fact, former senator and current presidential candidate Bill Bradley taped with Schmidt on Nov. 2.

“I am trying to get all the candidates to come in and do a taping, and Bradley is the first I have interviewed,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt urges his listeners and those that can’t tune in on the radio to visit his newly designed multimedia forum, Doctorpolitics.com, where one can locate recordings of his show.