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Michael Barone is a Fox News Channel contributor and co-author of The Almanac of American Politics. He is Senior Political Analyst for the Washington Examiner and a Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a Fox News Channel contributor and co-author of The Almanac of American Politics.
Michael Barone was formerly a senior writer with U.S. News & World Report. He grew up in Detroit and Birmingham, Mich. He graduated from Harvard College (1966) and Yale Law School (1969), and was an editor of the Harvard Crimson and the Yale Law Journal.
Barone served as law clerk to Judge Wade H. McCree Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit from 1969 to 1971. From 1974 to 1981, he was vice president of the polling firm of Peter D. Hart Research Associates. From 1981 to 1988, he was a member of the editorial page staff of The Washington Post. From 1996 to 1998, he was senior staff editor at Reader's Digest.
Barone is the principal co-author of The Almanac of American Politics, published by National Journal every two years. The first edition appeared in 1971, and the 17th edition, The Almanac of American Politics 2004, appeared in July 2003. He is also the author of Our Country: The Shaping of America from Roosevelt to Reagan (Free Press, 1990), The New Americans: How the Melting Pot Can Work Again (Regnery, 2001) and the just-released Hard America, Soft America: Competition vs. Coddling and the Competition for the Nation's Future (Crown Forum, May 2004).
Over the years, Barone has written for many publications, including The Economist, The New York Times, The Detroit News, the Detroit Free Press, The Weekly Standard, The New Republic, National Review, The American Spectator, American Enterprise, The Times Literary Supplement and The Daily Telegraph of London. He is a contributor to the Fox News Channel and has appeared on many other television programs.
Barone lives in Washington, D.C. He has traveled to all 50 states and all 435 congressional districts. He has also traveled to 37 foreign countries and has reported on recent elections in Russia, Mexico, Italy and Britain.
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Michael Barone (Dec 25, 2006)
We Americans, despite our current grumblings, are fundamentally an optimistic people. Our optimism has helped us achieve great things. But it can also be a problem. There is... more
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Michael Barone (Dec 18, 2006)
Obamamania seems to be the political flavor of the month. Illinois freshman Sen. Barack Obama drew crowds of 3,000 in New Hampshire -- more than candidates usually pull in... more
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Michael Barone (Dec 11, 2006)
Last week, Washington was all atwitter about the report of the Iraq Study Group, co-chaired by James Baker and Lee Hamilton. Its 79 recommendations included some constructive... more
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Michael Barone (Dec 04, 2006)
While George W. Bush's many critics and detractors portray him as facing the same dilemma as Lyndon Johnson in Vietnam, Bush himself seems determined to proceed the way Harry... more
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Michael Barone (Nov 27, 2006)
What will the Democrats do with their majorities in Congress? The 2006 campaign was pretty much an idea-free zone and provides only a few clues. In their hearts, most elected... more
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Michael Barone (Nov 20, 2006)
Back when Republicans were winning elections in the 1980s, Tip O'Neill used to say that it was because Democratic policies made a lot of people rich enough to vote... more
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Michael Barone (Nov 13, 2006)
The "thumpin'" that the Republican Party received last week will make profound changes in policymaking in Washington and in presidential politics. On the policy side, we have... more
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Michael Barone (Nov 06, 2006)
"You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in... more
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Michael Barone (Oct 30, 2006)
What's with the polls?
In 2004, the electorate that went to the polls or voted absentee was, according to the adjusted NEP exit poll, 37 percent Democratic and 37 percent... more
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Michael Barone (Oct 23, 2006)
In the midst of the campaign month of October came the news last week that the population of the United States has passed the 300 million mark. There's a sharp contrast... more
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Michael Barone (Oct 16, 2006)
What would a Democratic victory -- likely now but not certain in the House races, possible if all the close ones go their way in the Senate races -- mean? Would it mean that... more
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Michael Barone (Oct 09, 2006)
It is time to take seriously the possibility that the Democrats will take control of the House of Representatives in the elections next month. The breaking of the Mark Foley... more
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Michael Barone (Oct 02, 2006)
One of the salutary results of the Clinton administration, I thought, was that it got liberals and Democrats in the habit of using the first person plural. U.S. military... more
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Michael Barone (Sep 25, 2006)
Demography is destiny. The framers of the Constitution recognized this when they mandated for the first time in history that a census be conducted at regular intervals, and... more
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Michael Barone (Sep 18, 2006)
He who frames the issues tends to determine the outcome of the election. That's an old rule of political consultants, the first and most important rule, really.
It's a... more
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Michael Barone (Sep 11, 2006)
Narratives matter -- stories that make sense of the messy realities of the world, that connect cause with effect, that have a beginning, middle and end. We seek to understand... more
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Michael Barone (Sep 04, 2006)
The 2008 presidential race looks to be quite different from all recent contests. Many have noted that this is the first presidential race since 1928 -- 80 years! -- in which... more
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Michael Barone (Aug 28, 2006)
There seems to have been a change in the political winds. Theyve been blowing pretty strongly against George W. Bush and the Republicans this spring and early this summer.... more
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Michael Barone (Aug 21, 2006)
In our war against Islamo-fascist terrorism, we face enemies both overt and covert. The overt enemies are, of course, the terrorists themselves. Their motives are clear: They... more
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Michael Barone (Aug 14, 2006)
Tuesday and Thursday. On Tuesday, anti-Iraq war candidate Ned Lamont beat Sen. Joseph Lieberman in Connecticut's Democratic primary. On Thursday, British authorities arrested... more
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Michael Barone (Aug 07, 2006)
All this month, members of Congress will be holding hearings around the country on immigration. They'll be hearing undoubtedly from some of the extremists on the issue --... more
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Michael Barone (Jul 31, 2006)
The world seems aswirl. Where do we stand today?
Let's use the analysis of bestselling author Thomas Barnett, who divides the world into a functioning "Core" (North... more
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Michael Barone (Jul 24, 2006)
This Middle East crisis is different from all other Middle East crises. Over the years, since the Six-Day War of 1967, the United States and other onlookers have gotten used... more
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Michael Barone (Jul 17, 2006)
Close elections: They seem to be popping up all over. Earlier this month, in Mexico, Felipe Calderon, candidate of President Vicente Fox's PAN party, was declared the winner... more
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Michael Barone (Jul 10, 2006)
The apparent victory of Felipe Calderon, the candidate of incumbent President Vicente Fox's PAN party in Mexico, is the latest in a series of defeats for the hard left in... more
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Michael Barone (Jul 03, 2006)
Is it possible that the House and Senate will agree on an immigration bill? For most of June, the answer seemed to be no.
The House Republican leadership announced it... more
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Michael Barone (Jun 26, 2006)
Why do they hate us? No, I'm not talking about Islamofascist terrorists. We know why they hate us: because we have freedom of speech and freedom of religion, because we... more
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Michael Barone (Jun 19, 2006)
Things are looking up for George W. Bush, and maybe for his party. The Democrats failed to win the special election in the 50th congressional district of California... more
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Michael Barone (Jun 12, 2006)
"This is just to cover Bush's (rear) so he doesn't have to answer questions" about things in Iraq, said Rep. Pete Stark, second ranking Democrat on the House Ways... more
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Michael Barone (Jun 05, 2006)
Two weeks ago, I pointed out that we live in something close to the best of times, with record worldwide economic growth and at a low point in armed conflict in the world.... more
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Michael Barone (May 22, 2006)
Things are better than you think. Yes, I know, most Americans are in a sour mood these days, convinced that the struggle in Iraq is an endless cycle of bloodshed, certain... more
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Michael Barone (May 15, 2006)
As Washington insiders pore over the latest low job-approval ratings for George W. Bush, and as aficionados of British politics ponder the latest low ratings of Tony Blair,... more
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Michael Barone (May 08, 2006)
We have become accustomed in the six years of the George W. Bush presidency to seeing issues split the parties and the nation down the middle, with almost all Republicans on... more
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Michael Barone (May 01, 2006)
Blowback is what happens when the consequence of actions you have taken come full circle and slap you in the face. That happened to us in Afghanistan, after we supported the... more
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Michael Barone (Apr 24, 2006)
In this country, we tend to see events in Latin America as single trends. In the 1970s, there were military and authoritarian governments. In the 1980s, populist governments... more
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Michael Barone (Apr 17, 2006)
Will Democrats win control of the House in November? It's a question lots of people have been asking in Washington and around the country these days. It seems possible,... more
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Michael Barone (Apr 10, 2006)
"This much is certain: The welfare state as we know it cannot survive." So Charles Murray writes in The Wall Street Journal in an article on his new book, "In... more
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Michael Barone (Apr 03, 2006)
Let's say you were part of a group designing the news media from scratch. Someone says that it would be a good idea to have competing news media -- daily newspapers and... more
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Michael Barone (Mar 27, 2006)
This week, the Senate is expected to take up immigration, almost 20 years after passage of the last major immigration bill. Immigration is in some ways an American success... more
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Michael Barone (Mar 20, 2006)
Three weeks ago, I wrote about George W. Bush's September 2002 National Security Strategy and examined how it has stood up over time. Last week, the White House released an... more
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Michael Barone (Mar 13, 2006)
Twelve years ago, I was the first in the national press to write that the Republicans had a serious chance to win a majority of seats in the House. That article appeared in... more
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Michael Barone (Mar 06, 2006)
The issue is historical now, but still worth exploring. Why, for two distinct groups of Americans, has it become a matter of conviction held with religious intensity that... more
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Michael Barone (Feb 27, 2006)
Three and a half years ago, in September 2002, the Bush administration issued its National Security Strategy. It was, as Yale historian John Lewis Gaddis has written,... more
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Michael Barone (Feb 20, 2006)
Sometimes a little-known law can reshape our economy and our personal lives. One such law was Section 401(k) of the 1978 tax law. The headlines that year went to the law's... more
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Michael Barone (Feb 13, 2006)
American politics today is not just about winning elections or prevailing on issues. It's about delegitimizing, or preventing the delegitimization of, our presidents.This... more
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Michael Barone (Feb 06, 2006)
It was a big week for Republican leaders. On Jan. 31, Ben Bernanke was sworn in as Federal Reserve chairman and Samuel Alito was sworn in as the 110th Supreme Court justice.... more
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Michael Barone (Jan 30, 2006)
Do you ever get the feeling, while listening to the political debate, that we're stuck in the '70s? The 1970s, that is, that slum of a decade which gave us the worst popular... more
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Michael Barone (Jan 23, 2006)
It is not a pretty season in our politics. Both our major parties seem to be busy disqualifying themselves. The Republicans are desperately trying to avoid getting caught up... more
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Michael Barone (Jan 16, 2006)
In his opening statement to the Judiciary Committee, Judge Samuel Alito told the senators where he comes from. First, Hamilton Township, N.J., the modest-income suburb of... more
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Michael Barone (Jan 09, 2006)
This year, our two neighbors and fellow members of the North American Free Trade Area will have general elections -- Canada on Jan. 23 and Mexico on July 2 -- and from north... more
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Michael Barone (Jan 02, 2006)
The American economy continues to surge ahead, though you won't read much about it in the mainstream media. Economic growth in the third quarter was 4.1 percent -- despite... more