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), 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 Channel contributor.

Karlyn Bowman is a senior fellow at AEI. Her research areas include public opinion and polls, American politics, and the media. She regularly updates her AEI Public Opinion Studies on terrorism, the Iraq war, taxes, the environment, abortion, economic insecurity, and other topics. Widely regarded as an authority on public opinion, Ms. Bowman writes regular features for The American and its online edition.

John C. Fortier is a research fellow at AEI. He studies American politics, the presidency, continuity of government, elections, the Electoral College, election reform, and presidential succession and disability. He is a principal contributor to the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project, the executive director of the Continuity of Government Commission, and a weekly columnist for The Hill. Mr. Fortier’s most recent books include Second-Term Blues: How George W. Bush Has Governed (edited with Norman J. Ornstein; Brookings Institution Press, 2007) and Absentee and Early Voting: Trends, Promises, and Perils (AEI Press, 2006)

Norman J. Ornstein is a resident scholar at AEI. He also serves as an election analyst for CBS News and writes a weekly column called “Congress Inside Out” for Roll Call. Mr. Ornstein has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, and other major publications, and he regularly appears on television programs like The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Nightline, and Charlie Rose. He serves as senior counselor to the Continuity of Government Commission, codirects the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project, and is a member of the boards of the Public Broadcasting Service, the Campaign Legal Center, and the U.S. Capitol Historical Society. Mr. Ornstein was elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2004. His many books include Second-Term Blues: How George W. Bush Has Governed (edited with John C. Fortier; Brookings Institution Press, 2007) and The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track (with Thomas E. Mann; Oxford University Press, 2006).

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