Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Author, Journalist, Historian and Political Analyst I have been a public policy and senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. I am the author of two books on contemporary American politics. THE SWING VOTE: The Untapped Power of Independents (St. Martin’s Press, 2012) examines the polarization and dysfunction of our political system from the perspective of Independent voters and describes their intense disappointment and frustration with American politics. The Swing Vote focuses on four swing states – Colorado, Ohio, New Hampshire and Virginia – and presents four demographic groups that illustrate who the swing voters are - NPR Republicans, America First Democrats, The Facebook Generation and Starbucks Moms and Dads. In The Swing Vote she offers solutions for fixing our broken political system and ways for voters to make their voices heard. THE FRESHMEN: What Happened to the Republican Revolution? (Basic Books, 1998) was praised by The New York Review of Books as a colorful, well-written and insightful analysis of what happened to the congressional Republican freshmen of 1994. They gave the GOP its House majority and made Newt Gingrich Speaker of the House. The Freshmen reveals the maneuvering and intrigues, the successes and failures of the historic 104th Republican Congress which changed American government forever. I have been a regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire writing about national politics and public affairs; a book reviewer for The Washington Post and contributor to USA Today’s Opinion section. I have also written for The Daily Beast, The Atlantic, U.S. News & World Report, and Politico and have appeared as a political analyst on The NewsHour on PBS, MSNBC, CNN, and C-SPAN. I was the creator and founding director of the Boston University Washington Journalism Center, a Boston University professor of journalism, and director of the Boston University Washington Center. I was the senior editor of National Public Radio's All Things Considered where I was responsible for the editorial content of NPR's national evening news program. I was a reporter at Forbes magazine in New York and have also written for The Washington Post, Politics Daily, The Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, The Weekly Standard, The American Spectator, The Christian Science Monitor, The Boston Globe, Redbook, Washingtonian and People magazines.
I write analysis about politics and policy for The Wall Street Journal's Think Tank section
Proivided frequent political analysis throughout 2012 about independent voters, politics, the election and the American political landcape
Contributor to opinion section
Frequent contributor on politics and public affairs