Robert M. "Bob" Shrum (born 1943) is an American political consultant, who has worked on numerous Democratic campaigns.

Shrum was born in the Pittsburgh suburb of Connellsville, Pennsylvania and raised in Los Angeles. He is a graduate of Loyola High School of Los Angeles and Georgetown University (where he was named the outstanding debater at the 1965 national policy debate championship, the NDT). After Georgetown, he went to Harvard Law School.

Shrum began his political career as a speechwriter, first for New York City Mayor John Lindsay, and then for Edmund Muskie. He later worked for George McGovern, and spent nine days on Jimmy Carter's 1976 campaign.

Shrum later worked for Ted Kennedy and wrote the famous speech Kennedy gave at the 1980 Democratic National Convention.

In 1986, Shrum began work as a political consultant, designing campaign advertising and message strategy for Democratic candidates at the presidential, congressional, and gubernatorial levels. He worked for the Dick Gephardt campaign during the 1988 Democratic primaries, including Gephardt's surprise victory in the Iowa caucus, but after Gephardt's defeat, Shrum helped Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis in preparing for his debates against Vice President George Bush. Dukakis lost the general election.

Jonathan Alter (born October 6, 1957) is an American journalist and author who was a columnist and senior editor for Newsweek magazine from 1983 until 2011. He is currently a lead columnist for Bloomberg View, a new commentary website. He is also a contributing correspondent to NBC News, where since 1996 he has appeared on NBC, MSNBC, and CNBC. When the shows were on the air, he could often be heard on Imus in the Morning and The Al Franken Show on Air America Radio. He is the author of The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope, a national bestseller published by Simon & Schuster in 2006, and Between the Lines: A View Inside American Politics, People and Culture, a collection of twenty years' worth of his columns published by Borders Books. His 2010 book is The Promise: President Obama, Year One, published by Simon & Schuster, a behind-the-scenes look at Obama's eventful debut. The Promise was a New York Times Best Seller reaching #3 on the list at its peak.

Alter is a Chicago native. He graduated from Phillips Academy in 1975 and Harvard University in 1979.