Speaker biographies

Michael Barone is a resident fellow at AEI, where he studies politics, American government, and campaigns and elections. The principal co-author 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. Ms. Bowman writes regular features on numbers for The American and its online edition.

E. J. Dionne Jr. is a syndicated columnist for the Washington Post, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and a professor at Georgetown University. He is the author of Why Americans Hate Politics (Simon and Schuster, 1991)--winner of the Los Angeles Times book prize and a National Book Award nominee--They Only Look Dead: Why Progressives Will Dominate the Next Political Era (Simon and Schuster, 1997), and Stand Up, Fight Back: Republican Toughs, Democratic Wimps, and the Politics of Revenge (Simon and Schuster, 2004). Mr. Dionne is the editor or coeditor of many other books, including the Pew Forum Dialogues on Religion and Public Life.

Ben J. Wattenberg is a senior fellow at AEI. He is the moderator of the weekly PBS television program Think Tank with Ben Wattenberg. Mr. Wattenberg’s newest book is Fighting Words: A Tale of How Liberals Created Neo-Conservatism (Thomas Dunne Books, 2008). He is the author of nine additional books, including Fewer (Ivan R. Dee, 2004), Values Matter Most (Simon and Schuster, 1995), The First Universal Nation (Free Press, 1991), and The Birth Dearth (World Almanac Books, 1987). He also coauthored, with Richard M. Scammon, The Real Majority (Putman, 1970), the best-selling “bible” of the 1970 and 1972 elections. Mr. Wattenberg was an aide and speechwriter to President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1966 to 1968. He served as a political adviser to Senator Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson, helping to write the 1972 and 1976 Democratic national platforms.

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