Rich Lowry

Richard A. "Rich" Lowry (born August 22, 1968) is the editor of National Review, the American conservative magazine of news and opinion. He is also a syndicated columnist, author, and political commentator.

Life and career

Lowry was born on August 22, 1968 in Arlington, Virginia, the son of a social worker mother and Edward D. Lowry, a professor of English. He grew up in Arlington, and now lives in New York City. After graduating from Yorktown High School in Arlington, Lowry attended the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, where he studied English and history. He was editor of the Virginia Advocate, the school's conservative monthly magazine. After graduating, he worked for Charles Krauthammer as a research assistant, and later worked as a reporter for a local newspaper in northern Virginia.

In 1992, Lowry joined William F. Buckley's National Review, after finishing second in the magazine's young writer's contest. In the summer of 1994, he became the articles editor for National Review and moved to Washington DC to cover Congress. In November 1997, Lowry became editor of National Review at the age of 29, taking over from John O'Sullivan who succeeded Buckley in that position ten years earlier. At the time, Buckley said of Lowry, "I am very confident that I've got a very good person."

Donald Trump

Donald John Trump, Sr. (born June 14, 1946) is an American businessperson and media personality. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's career, branding efforts, personal life, wealth, and outspoken manner have made him famous throughout the country. Since 2015, he is also a candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in the 2016 election.

Trump is a native of New York City and a son of Fred Trump, who inspired him to enter real estate development. After two years at Fordham University and while studying at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Trump worked for his father's firm, Elizabeth Trump & Son. Upon graduating in 1968 he joined the company, and in 1971 was given control, renaming the company "The Trump Organization". Since then he has built hotels, golf courses, and other properties, many of which bear his name. He is a major figure in the American business scene and has received prominent media exposure. The NBC reality show The Apprentice bolstered his fame, and his three marriages were extensively reported in tabloids.

Bill Richardson

William Blaine "Bill" Richardson III (born November 15, 1947) is an American politician who was 30th Governor of New Mexico, from 2003 to 2011. He was U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Energy Secretary in the Clinton administration and has also served as a U.S. Congressman, chairman of the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. In December 2008, he was nominated for the cabinet-level position of Commerce Secretary in the first Obama administration but withdrew a month later as he was investigated for possibly improper business dealings in New Mexico. Although the investigation was later dropped, it was seen to have damaged Richardson's career, as his second and final term as New Mexico governor concluded.

Early life and education

Bill Richardson was born in Pasadena, California. His father, William Blaine Richardson, Jr. (1891-1972), who was half Anglo-American and half Mexican, was an American Citibank executive who grew up in Boston, Massachusetts and lived and worked in Mexico City. His mother, María Luisa López-Collada Márquez (1914-2011), was the Mexican-born daughter of a Spanish father from Villaviciosa, Asturias and a Mexican mother, and had been his father's secretary. Richardson's father was born on a ship heading towards Nicaragua. Just before Bill Richardson was born, his father sent his mother to California to give birth because, as Richardson explained, "My father had a complex about not having been born in the United States." Richardson, a U.S. citizen by birthright, spent his childhood in Mexico City and was raised Roman Catholic. When Richardson was 13, his parents sent him to Massachusetts to attend a preparatory school, Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts, where he played baseball as a pitcher. He entered Tufts University in 1966 where he continued to play baseball.

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II (US ⁱ/bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician serving as the 44th President of the United States, the first African American to hold the office. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he served as president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney and taught constitutional law at University of Chicago Law School between 1992 and 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004, and ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic primary for the United States House of Representatives in 2000 against incumbent Bobby Rush.

In 2004, Obama received national attention during his campaign to represent Illinois in the United States Senate with his victory in the March Democratic Party primary, his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July, and his election to the Senate in November. He began his presidential campaign in 2007 and, after a close primary campaign against Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2008, he won sufficient delegates in the Democratic Party primaries to receive the presidential nomination. He then defeated Republican nominee John McCain in the general election, and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. Nine months after his inauguration, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.