Speaker Biographies

Michael Barone is a resident fellow at AEI, where he studies politics, American government, and campaigns and elections, as well as a political analyst and journalist. The principal coauthor of the biennial Almanac of American Politics (National Journal Group, 2007), he has written many books on American politics and history, including, most recently, Our First Revolution: The Remarkable British Upheaval That Inspired America's Founding Fathers (Random House/Crown Forum, 2007). Mr. Barone is also a senior writer for U.S. News & World Report and a Fox News contributor.

Karlyn Bowman is a senior fellow at AEI. She joined the Institute in 1979 and was managing editor of Public Opinion magazine until 1990. From 1990 to 1995, she was the founding editor of The American Enterprise. Today, Ms. Bowman is a contributing editor to The American. Her publications include “Public Opinion Toward Congress” (with Everett Carll Ladd) in Congress, The Press, and The Public (AEI/Brookings, 1994), The 1993-1994 Debate on Health Care Reform: Did the Polls Mislead the Policy Makers? (AEI Press, 1994), “The Gender Factor” in America at the Polls 1994 (Roper Center, 1995), and Attitudes Toward the Environment: Twenty-Five Years After Earth Day (with Everett Carll Ladd; AEI Press, 1995). In 1996, she and Ladd wrote Public Opinion in America and Japan: How We See Each Other and Ourselves (AEI Press/Roper Center, 1996) and in 1997, the published both Public Opinion on Abortion: Twenty-Five Years After Roe v. Wade and Public Opinion About Economic Inequality. What’s Wrong: A Survey of American Satisfaction and Complaint was published in May 1998. In 2001, she contributed a chapter on polling to The Permanent Campaign and Its Future (AEI/Brookings). In 2002, Ms. Bowman inaugurated a series of public opinion studies that are available on AEI’s website, including “America After 9/11: Public Opinion on the War on Terrorism,” “Public Attitudes on the War with Iraq,” “Polls on Patriotism,” “Attitudes Toward Homosexuality,” “Public Opinion on Taxes,” “Attitudes Toward Social Security Reform,” and “Attitudes About Economic Anxiety.” Ms. Bowman also edits AEI’s monthly Political Report.

David Frum is a resident fellow at AEI and the author of six books, including two New York Times bestsellers: The Right Man: The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush and An End to Evil: How To Win the War on Terror (both Random House, 2003). His newest book is Comeback: Conservatism That Can Win Again (Doubleday, 2007). His first book, Dead Right (Basic Books, 1995), was described by William F. Buckley as “the most refreshing ideological experience in a generation,” and by Frank Rich of the New York Times as “the smartest book written from the inside about the American conservative movement.” Mr. Frum writes a blog for National Review Online and weekly columns for Canada’s National Post. He contributes often to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal; appears frequently on CNN, Fox News, and the BBC; and is a regular commentator on American Public Radio’s Marketplace. Mr. Frum served as a special assistant to President George W. Bush for speechwriting in 2001–2002. He is currently a member of the board of directors of the Republican Jewish Coalition and a senior foreign policy adviser to the Rudy Giuliani presidential campaign. In 1996, the Wall Street Journal praised him as “one of the leading political commentators of his generation.” The Daily Telegraph’s 2007 survey named Mr. Frum as one of America’s fifty most influential conservatives.

View Event Details