Eleanor_Clift_Speaker_BioEleanor Clift

Newsweek Contributing Editor and Popular Political Analyst

Eleanor Clift became a contributing editor to Newsweek in September 1994. She writes on the Washington power structure, the influence of women in politics, and other contemporary political issues.

Formerly Newsweek's White House correspondent, Clift also served as congressional and political correspondent for six years. She was a key member of the magazine's 1992 election team, following the campaign of Bill Clinton from its start to inauguration day. In June 1992 she was named deputy Washington bureau chief.

As a reporter in Newsweek's Atlanta bureau, Clift covered Jimmy Carter's bid for the presidency. She followed Carter to Washington to become Newsweek's White House correspondent, a position she held until 1985. Clift began her career as a secretary to Newsweek's National Affairs editor in New York. She was one of the first women at the magazine to move from secretary to reporter.

Clift left Newsweek briefly in 1985 to serve as White House correspondent for the Los Angeles Times. She returned to Newsweek the following year to cover the Iran-Contra scandal.

Clift is a regular panelist on the syndicated talk show, The McLaughlin Group, and a political analyst for MSNBC. She is also co-chair of the board of the International Women's Media Foundation.

Clift and her late husband, Tom Brazaitis, who was a columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, wrote two books together, War Without Bloodshed: The Art of Politics (Scribner, 1996), and Madam President: Shattering the Last Glass Ceiling (Scribner, 2000). Madam President is available in paperback (Routledge Press). Clift's most recent book, Founding Sisters is about the passage of the 19th amendment giving women the vote (John Wiley & Sons, 2003).