MSNBC (stylized as msnbc) is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, South Africa, the Middle East and Canada. Its name is derived from the most common abbreviations for Microsoft and the National Broadcasting Company.

msnbc.com, a separate company, is the central news website for the NBC News family, featuring interactivity and multimedia plus original stories and video which augment the content from NBC News and partners.

MSNBC and msnbc.com were founded in 1996 as a partnership of Microsoft and General Electric's NBC unit, which is now NBCUniversal. Although Microsoft and NBC shared operations of MSNBC cable at its founding, it was announced on December 23, 2005, that NBCUniversal would purchase a majority stake in the television channel, which left Microsoft with 18%, later reduced to zero. The two companies remain partners in msnbc.com. MSNBC shares the NBC logo of a rainbow peacock with its sister channels NBC, CNBC, NBC Sports Network, and ShopNBC. MSNBC is available in over 78 million households in the United States.

Charles David “Chuck” Todd (born April 8, 1972) is an American journalist, Chief White House Correspondent and political director for NBC News, and contributing editor to Meet the Press. He is an occasional contributor to other news outlets, including The Atlantic.

Before coming to the world of political reporting and analysis, Todd earned practical political experience on initiative campaigns in Florida and various national campaigns based in Washington, D.C. While in college, Todd worked for the 1992 presidential campaign of Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and later started part time at The Hotline.

From 1992 until March 12, 2007, Todd worked for National Journal's The Hotline, where he was editor-in-chief for six years. As part of his position, Todd also co-hosted, with John Mercurio, the webcast series Hotline TV, consisting of a daily show lasting between three and seven minutes and a weekly show ranging between 20 and 30 minutes. He became a frequent guest on political discussion shows, such as Hardball with Chris Matthews and Inside Politics with Judy Woodruff.

Rafael Edward Cruz, known as Ted Cruz (born December 22, 1970), is the former Solicitor General of the U.S. state of Texas, a position which he held from 2003 to May 2008. Cruz was appointed by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. He was the first Hispanic Solicitor General in Texas, the youngest Solicitor General in the United States, and had the longest tenure in the post thus far in Texas history. He is currently a partner at the law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, where he leads the firm’s U.S. Supreme Court and national appellate litigation practice.

Cruz is a candidate for the 2012 Republican nomination for the United States Senate seat being vacated by Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Cruz previously served as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice, and as Domestic Policy Advisor to U.S. President George W. Bush on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign. In addition, from 2004-2009 Cruz was an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, where he taught U.S. Supreme Court litigation.

Cenk Kadir Uygur (Turkish pronunciation: [ˈdʒɛŋk ˈujɡur]; born March 21, 1970), is the main host and co-founder of the progressive Internet and talk radio show, The Young Turks (TYT). A naturalized U.S. citizen, Uygur was born in Turkey and raised from age eight in the United States. He worked as an attorney in Washington D.C. and New York before beginning his career as a political commentator. Originally a moderate Republican, he has since become a staunch critic of both the Republican and Democratic parties and has adopted more progressive and liberal views.

In addition to hosting TYT, Uygur appeared on MSNBC as a political commentator in 2010, later hosting a weeknight commentary show on the channel for nearly six months—until the time slot was given to Al Sharpton. Shortly after leaving MSNBC, Uygur secured a show on Current TV that began airing on December 5, 2011 before Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

Uygur was born in Istanbul, Turkey and emigrated with his family to the United States when he was eight years old. He grew up in East Brunswick Township, New Jersey and graduated from East Brunswick High School. He attended the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania where he majored in management and was on the Student Activities Council representing the Turkish Students Association. He also earned a J.D. from Columbia Law School and worked as an associate attorney at the law firms of Drinker Biddle & Reath in Washington, D.C. and Hayes & Liebman in New York City.

Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul (born August 20, 1935) is an American politician who has been the U.S. Representative for Texas's 14th congressional district, which includes Galveston, since 1997, and a three-time candidate for President of the United States, as a Libertarian in 1988 and as a Republican in 2008 and currently 2012. He is an outspoken critic of American foreign and monetary policies, including the Military–industrial complex and the Federal Reserve, and is known for his libertarian-leaning views, often differing from his own party on certain issues.

A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Paul is a graduate of Gettysburg College and Duke University School of Medicine, where he earned his medical degree. He served as a medical officer in the United States Air Force from 1963 until 1968. He worked as an obstetrician-gynecologist from the 1960s to the 1980s, delivering more than 4,000 babies. He became the first Representative in history to serve concurrently with a child in the Senate when his son Rand Paul was elected to the United States Senate for Kentucky in 2010.