National Journal is an American weekly magazine that reports on the current political environment and emerging political and policy trends. National Journal was first published in 1969. Times Mirror owned the magazine from 1986 to 1997, when it was purchased by David G. Bradley. It is now part of National Journal Group, a division of Atlantic Media Company.

The magazine was established in 1969 by Thomas N. Schroth, who formed the publication after being fired from his post as editor of Congressional Quarterly, with many CQ staff defecting to the new publication.^[1]

National Journal is aimed at Washington insiders.^[2] It is mostly read by members of Congress, Capitol Hill staffers, the White House, Executive Branch agencies, the media, think tanks, corporations, associations and lobbyists. Most of the journal's content can be accessed only by subscribers. The yearly subscription rate is $1,160, or $525 for just the weekly hardcopy magazine.

The magazine has received three National Magazine Awards.^[3]

Some of its best known current and former contributors have been:

• Richard E. Cohen
• Charlie Cook
• Clive Crook
• Jonathan Rauch^[4]
• Stuart Taylor Jr.^[5]
• Major Garrett ^[6]
• Susan Davis
• Matthew Cooper^[7][8]
• Marc Ambinder
• Patrick Pexton
• Murray Waas^[9][10]
• William Powers
• Yochi Dreazen^[11]

As of 2006, National Journal has an agreement with Washington Week which ensures that at least one National Journal reporter is on the show.^[12]

In 2010, buyouts were offered to the entire magazine's staff. The magazine was relaunched in October, along with a new, free website.^[13]

See also[link]

• The Hotline

References[link]

^{[2] [3] [12] [14] [13]}

External links[link]

• Official Website
• National Journal Lobbying Coverage
• Health Care Coverage

Ron Fournier (b.1963) is an American national political journalist currently of the National Journal. In June, 2010 Fournier left the Associated Press (AP) where he served as Washington bureau chief.

Fournier is a native of Detroit, Michigan. He attended the University of Detroit.

Fournier began his journalism career in 1985 at The Sentinel-Record in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Two years later, he moved to the Arkansas Democrat in Little Rock, Arkansas. He stayed there for another two years before joining the Little Rock bureau of the AP in 1989. While there, he covered Bill Clinton during his final term as Governor. When Clinton was elected President, Fournier moved to the AP's Washington bureau.^[1]

Fournier left the AP in 2004 to take a Harvard Institute of Politics fellowship. During this period, he also co-wrote the book Applebee's America with Matthew Dowd, a Republican strategist, and Doug Sosnik, a Democratic strategist. In 2006, he took a position as editor-in-chief of a new Internet website called Hotsoup.com, which aimed to foster discussion on a number of topics including politics. The site failed to catch on, however, and Fournier returned to the AP in March 2007 as its Online Political Editor, after considering “a senior advisory role” with John McCain's presidential campaign.^[2]

In May 2008, Fournier was named the acting Washington bureau chief, replacing his "mentor" Sandy Johnson. Since taking over the position, Fournier has led a dramatic shift in the AP's policy, moving it away from the neutral and objective tone it had become known for and toward a more opinionated style that would make judgments when conflicting opinions were presented in a story.^[3]

On August 23, 2008, following U.S. Senator and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's announcement of his selection of Senator Joe Biden as a running mate, Fournier wrote a widely circulated piece titled "Analysis: Biden pick shows lack of confidence".^[4] A Washington Monthly columnist described the piece as "mirror[ing] the Republican line with minimal variation".^[5] Editor & Publisher noted that Fournier's article "gained wide linkage at the Drudge Report, Hot Air and numerous other conservative sites...."^[6]

While investigators for the House Oversight Committee were looking into the death of Pat Tillman, they uncovered an email from Fournier to Karl Rove encouraging him to "keep up the fight."^[7] Critics such as Eric Boehlert have lambasted Fournier for his apparent bias.^{[citation needed]}

Fournier has won the Society of Professional Journalists' 2000 Sigma Delta Chi Award for coverage of the United States presidential election, 2000. He is also a three-time winner of the White House Correspondents' Association Merriman Smith award.

References[link]

1. ^ Ron Fournier named chief of AP's Washington bureau
2. ^ Calderone, Michael (2008-07-30). "One of Fournier's job options: McCain". Politico. http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=70AFE0F1-3048-5C12-001A56872008C572. Retrieved 2008-08-23. 
3. ^ Calderone, Michael (2008-07-14). "Is Fournier saving or destroying the AP?". Politico. http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=1DA639E4-3048-5C12-0010F30E475931F7. Retrieved 2008-08-23. 
4. ^ Fournier, Ron (August 23, 2008). "Analysis: Biden pick shows lack of confidence". Associated Press. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080823/ap_on_el_ge/veepstakes_analysis. Retrieved 2008-08-23. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ Benen, Steve (August 23, 2008). "Fournier Is At It Again". Political Animal (Washington Monthly). http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_08/014385.php. Retrieved 2008-08-23. 
6. ^ "MoveOn.org Targets AP's Fournier for Alleged Pro-McCain Bias". Editor & Publisher. August 23, 2008. http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003842038 
7. ^ "AP's Ron Fournier To Karl Rove: "Keep Up The Fight"". Mother Jones. July 14, 2008. http://motherjones.com/mojo/2008/07/aps-ron-fournier-karl-rove-keep-fight 

This article may be unbalanced towards certain viewpoints. Please improve the article by adding information on neglected viewpoints, or discuss the issue on the talk page. (December 2011)

Chris Matthews
Matthews at the 2011 Time 100 Gala.
Born	Christopher John Matthews (1945-12-17) December 17, 1945 (age 66) Somerton, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Ethnicity	Irish
Education	College of the Holy Cross
Occupation	News anchor and political commentator
Notable credit(s)	Hardball with Chris Matthews The Chris Matthews Show
Religion	Roman Catholic
Spouse	Kathleen Matthews
Relatives	Montgomery County, PA County Commissioner Jim Matthews (brother)

Christopher John "Chris" Matthews (born December 17, 1945) is an American news anchor and political commentator known for his nightly hour-long talk show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, which is televised on the American cable television channel MSNBC. On weekends he hosts the syndicated NBC News–produced panel discussion program The Chris Matthews Show. Matthews makes frequent appearances on many other NBC and MSNBC programs. On March 22, 2009, Matthews renewed the contract for Hardball with Chris Matthews through 2012.^[1]

Early life and education[link]

Matthews was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Irish American parents and is a Roman Catholic.^[2] He attended La Salle College High School. He is a 1967 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, and did graduate work in economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.^[3][4]

Matthews served in the United States Peace Corps in Swaziland from 1968 to 1970^[5] as a trade development adviser.

Career[link]

Political career and views[link]

When Matthews first arrived in Washington, D.C., he worked as a police officer with the United States Capitol Police.^[6] Subsequently, he served on the staffs of four Democratic members of Congress, including Senators Frank Moss and Edmund Muskie. In 1974, he mounted an unsuccessful campaign for Pennsylvania's 4th congressional district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in which he received about 24% of the vote in the primary.^[7] Matthews was a presidential speechwriter during the Carter administration and later worked for six years as a top aide to longtime Speaker of the House of Representatives Tip O'Neill, playing a direct role in many key political battles with the Reagan administration.

Matthews in October 2007

Despite having worked for Democrats, Matthews has said, "I'm more conservative than people think I am.... I voted for George W. in 2000."^[8] Salon.com has called him the "most conservative voice" on MSNBC's primetime lineup.^[9] Matthews has been accused by media watchdogs^[10] of having panels of guests that skew to the right and of supporting Republicans in his own questions and comments.^[11][12] Conversely, he is also often criticized by conservatives for his opposition to the Iraq War among other stances he took against the Bush administration.

On the April 14, 2008, edition of The Colbert Report, Matthews alluded to a possible run for the United States Senate from Pennsylvania. When directly questioned by Stephen Colbert about his intentions, he stated that there is a difference between celebrities and those who work for the people, and it's a greater thing to work for the people. He also said that his boyhood dream was to be a senator. Four days later, on April 18, 2008, Matthews told Bill Maher that he has "made a commitment to covering politics in a liberal way, starting in 1987, and [he is] honoring that commitment, not getting involved in it."^[13] The seat in question was the one held by Sen. Arlen Specter, whose term in the Senate ended in January 2011. On November 28, 2008, Fivethirtyeight.com and The Politico reported that Matthews had been in contact with senior staffers of Barack Obama's campaign about a possible run.^[14][15] On January 7, 2009, The New York Times reported that Matthews told his staffers that he would not run for the Senate.^[16] On May 25, 2009 Chris Matthews appeared on Charlie Rose where he stated that he was intending to run for Specter's Senate seat in 2010, stating, "I could see myself winning the Democratic primary and I could see myself going on to face Arlen in the general [election]," but that he felt he had to decide between being a journalist and being a politician once Specter became a national figure by supporting the stimulus.

While discussing proposed healthcare reform on the December 17, 2009, edition of Hardball, Matthews stated, "The Republicans will know they have lost.... Let them keep score and it's easy. It's complicated when liberals get to keep score. We're always arguing. Well, I'm a liberal, too."^[17][18]

Author and talk show host[link]

Matthews during a special edition of Hardball

Matthews worked in print media for 15 years, spending 13 years as Washington, D.C. bureau chief for the San Francisco Examiner (1987–2000) and two years as a nationally syndicated columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. Matthews covered the fall of the Berlin Wall, the first all-races election in South Africa, and the Good Friday Peace Talks in Northern Ireland. In 1997 and 1998, his research in the National Archives produced a series of exclusives on the Nixon presidential tapes. Matthews has covered American presidential election campaigns since 1988.

In 1997, Matthews began his own talk show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, which originally aired on CNBC but is currently on MSNBC. Hardball features pundits and elected officials as guests.

In 2002, The Chris Matthews Show began airing in syndication. The show is formatted as a political roundtable consisting of four journalists and Matthews, who serves as the moderator. He is estimated to earn more than $5 million a year. He also wrote a book called Hardball.^[19]

Personal life[link]

Matthews has been married since 1980 to Kathleen Matthews, who anchored News 7 on WJLA-TV, the ABC affiliate in Washington, D.C., before accepting a position as an executive vice president with J.W. Marriott. The couple have three children: Michael, Thomas, and Caroline. His brother Jim Matthews, a Republican, is a county commissioner in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

In 2002, Matthews was hospitalized with malaria, which he evidently contracted on one of his visits that year to Africa.^{[citation needed]} He has also had other health problems, including diabetes (which he acknowledged having on the Hardball broadcast of December 7, 2009) and pneumonia.^[20]

Criticisms and controversy[link]

Matthews and his wife Kathleen at the 2010 Time 100 Gala.

Liberal blogger Glenn Greenwald has called Matthews "the most vivid example of all that is wrong with political coverage," saying "[H]e’s endlessly obsessed with personality-based politics and likes to promote the strong, masculine tough guy who you can have a beer with, versus the nerdy loser. And he has a cast of characters who go on his show, like Newsweek’s Howard Fineman, who gush over the maleness of the Republican candidates and warn Democrats about how that has real appeal to American voters. Most political reporters judge candidates on the basis of the likeability factor—Matthews is just more explicit about it."^[21]

Others have criticized Matthews for talking too much on air, not letting his guests talk, and often talking over and interrupting them. One who also worked in the Carter Administration has written: "Generally in those days Chris was a relatively quiet person around the White House, and in meetings or briefings would frequently say very little, or nothing at all. I guess he's making up for lost time—or 'lost talk'—now. Nevertheless, I'm a big fan of his show, always fascinating without fail—at least if you're a political junkie."^[22]

The progressive media watchdog group Media Matters for America named Matthews its 2005 "Misinformer of the Year," citing statements he made in support of President George W. Bush.^[23]

On January 9, 2008, the morning after Hillary Clinton's surprise victory in the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary, Matthews appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe program and said of Clinton,

The comments were criticized by such media figures as Bill O'Reilly, Joy Behar, and Gloria Steinem.^[24][26][27] They also resulted in protests outside NBC's Washington, D.C., studios as well as a joint letter of complaint to NBC from the National Organization for Women, Feminist Majority, and the National Women's Political Caucus. Matthews apologized for the comments on the January 17, 2008, edition of Hardball.^[27]

After Matthews and Keith Olbermann made controversial on-air comments during the 2008 Republican National Convention, NBC News correspondent David Gregory replaced them, but Matthews and Olbermann continued working as analysts.^[28] On November 4–5, he teamed with Rachel Maddow, Eugene Robinson, David Gregory, and Keith Olbermann to cover the presidential election.

On February 12, 2008, during MSNBC's coverage of the Potomac primary, Matthews had this to say about then presidential candidate Barack Obama:

This led some on the political right to assert that both he and MSNBC were biased toward Obama.^[30]

On November 6, 2008, he was a guest on the MSNBC television program Morning Joe, wherein he stated, "I want to do everything I can to make this thing work, this new presidency work." Host Joe Scarborough asked if that was his job as a journalist. "Yeah, that’s my job. My job is to help this country," Matthews replied.^[31]

On December 1, 2009, preceding Obama's speech announcing a troop increase in Afghanistan, Matthews criticized the president for choosing the United States Military Academy as his venue, referring to it as "the enemy camp."^[32] Soon after, Matthews apologized for his remarks, saying, "[To] the cadets, their parents, former cadets, and everyone who cares about this country and those who defend it: I used the wrong words and worse than that I said something that is just not right and for that I deeply apologize."^[33]

In January 2010, in Matthews's comments after President Obama's first State of the Union Address, he said, "You know, I forgot he was black tonight for an hour."^{[34][35][36][37][38]} The next day, on the Rachel Maddow show, Matthews clarified his remarks, saying, "I think he’s taken us beyond black and white in our politics, wonderfully so, in just a year."^[39]

Bibliography[link]

• Matthews, Christopher (2011). Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4516-3508-9. 
• Matthews, Christopher (2007). Life’s a Campaign: What Politics Has Taught Me About Friendship, Rivalry, Reputation, and Success (1st ed. ed.). New York: Random House. ISBN 978-1-4000-6528-8. 
• Matthews, Christopher (2002). American: Beyond Our Grandest Notions. New York: Free Press. ISBN 0-7432-4086-3. 
• Matthews, Christopher (2001). Now, Let Me Tell You What I Really Think (1st ed. ed.). New York: Free Press. ISBN 0-684-86236-0. 
• Matthews, Christopher (1999). Hardball: How Politics Is Played, Told By One Who Knows the Game (1st Touchstone ed. ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-84559-8. 
• Matthews, Christopher (1996). Kennedy & Nixon: The Rivalry that Shaped Postwar America. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-81030-1. 

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Chris Matthews

• Hardball with Chris Matthews
• The Chris Matthews Show
• Appearances on C-SPAN
  • Booknotes interview with Matthews on Kennedy and Nixon: The Rivalry That Shaped Postwar America, June 9, 1996.
• Chris Matthews on Charlie Rose
• Chris Matthews at the Internet Movie Database
• Chris Matthews collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Works by or about Chris Matthews in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Chris Matthews at the Notable Names Database

For the American ice hockey player, see Charlie Cook (ice hockey).

Charlie Cook (born November 20, 1953), originally from Shreveport, Louisiana, is an American political analyst who specializes in election forecasts and political trends. He graduated in 1972 from Captain Shreve High School in Shreveport and attended Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.^[1] He delivers election forecasts and rankings in his own publication, The Cook Political Report, and in other media venues. Cook writes two columns for National Journal, the "The Cook Report" for the main publication and "Off to the Races" for NationalJournal Daily. Since the 1984 presidential election, Cook has provided election night commentary for various television networks. He is a political analyst for the National Journal and since 1994 with NBC.

In 1984, he founded the The Cook Political Report newsletter,^[1] which publishes analysis of the primaries and general elections for federal political offices and state governorships. The Report's predictions are accorded high credibility among journalists and politicians.^[2] However, Cook readily acknowledges some of his failed predictions. In 2006, he said that he had "tread marks on my forehead" after understating the Republican gains in the 1994 midterm Congressional elections. In July 2008, at a time when U.S. Senator John S. McCain of Arizona had for many months been the presumptive presidential nominee of the Republican Party, Cook reminded his audience that he had "written McCain off as politically dead just a year ago".^[3]

Prior to founding his newsletter in 1984, Cook worked on Capitol Hill for then-Senator J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., a Democrat from Shreveport who served from 1972 to 1997. Cook also worked for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and the Democratic Policy Committee. In addition, he worked as a pollster and campaign consultant and on the staff of BUILD-PAC, the political action committee of the trade association, the National Association of Home Builders.^[4]

In 2006, he was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield.^[5]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• CNN. 1996. Capsule biography of Charlie Cook.
• Cook, Charlie. July 12, 2008. Weekly column in the National Journal.
• Milbank, Dana. October 25 [sic], 2006. When It Comes to Politics, Charlie Cook Has the Prophecy Market Cornered. Washington Post.

External links[link]

• Charlie Cook Interview
• Charlie Cook columns

Alex Witt (born April 9, 1961 in Los Angeles, California)^[1] is an anchor for MSNBC.^[2] She joined the network in January 1999.

Professional[link]

Alex Witt serves as anchor for Weekends with Alex Witt and contributing anchor for msnbc Live. Before joining MSNBC, Witt was a reporter at KCBA from 1990–1992 and WNYW-TV from 1996–1998. Before getting her first on-air job at KCBA, she was a producer for the Today Show in Burbank, California. She has also been with KCBS-TV, KNBC-TV, KABC-TV, each of which in communities adjacent to Los Angeles, California.

On November 11, 2008, Witt joined former congressman (and actor) Fred Grandy as co-host of the series Daily Cafe on Retirement Living TV.

Personal[link]

She is a member of the band Mrs. Robinson,^[3] which performed on Imus in the Morning on November 16, 2006.^[4]

She is a mother of two and the daughter of Dr. Charles B. Witt, M.D., a noted thoracic surgeon in Los Angeles, California.

Witt has noted on-air that she is related to George Washington. She is a second cousin, seven generations removed to George Washington through Bailey Washington, a cousin and contemporary of President Washington. Witt is a member of the National Society of Washington Family Descendants.

Witt attended the University of Southern California, majoring in journalism and also Marlborough School for Girls in Los Angeles.

References[link]

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