Craig Crawford
Encyclopedia
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
political commentator based in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, a columnist for Congressional Quarterly
Congressional Quarterly
Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is a privately owned publishing company that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress...
, and the author of Listen Up Mr. President: Everything You Always Wanted Your President to Know and Do (with co-author Helen Thomas
Helen Thomas
Helen Thomas is an American author and former news service reporter, member of the White House Press Corps and opinion columnist. She worked for the United Press and post-1958 successor United Press International for 57 years, first as a correspondent, and later as White House bureau manager...
), The Politics of Life: 25 Rules for Survival in a Brutal and Manipulative World, and Attack the Messenger: How Politicians Turn You Against the Media.
Early years
Craig Crawford was born in Owensboro, KentuckyOwensboro, Kentucky
Owensboro is the fourth largest city by population in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It is the county seat of Daviess County. It is located on U.S. Route 60 about southeast of Evansville, Indiana, and is the principal city of the Owensboro, Kentucky, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's...
. During his childhood, Crawford moved with his family to Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
, where he attended Pineloch Elementary School and Oak Ridge High School
Oak Ridge High School (Orlando, Florida)
Oak Ridge High School is a public secondary school in Orlando, Florida, established in 1956. The school has been rated as a D or F institution by the state every year since 2000.-Campus:The Campus has been expanded/remodeled since the founding of the school...
. His parents, Tabitha and Bill Crawford, encouraged his interest in public affairs. When he was nine years old, Crawford had the opportunity to meet President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
. While still in high school, Crawford served as a page to Republican Senator Ed Gurney.
In 1974, while attending Stetson University
Stetson University
Stetson University is a private university with four colleges and schools located across the I-4 corridor in Central Florida. The primary undergraduate campus is located in DeLand, Florida, USA. In the 2012 U.S...
, he worked on Jimmy Carter's
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
presidential campaign. After the 1976 election, Crawford transferred to American University
American University
American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...
in Washington to intern in the Carter White House press office. Crawford graduated from Stetson University
Stetson University
Stetson University is a private university with four colleges and schools located across the I-4 corridor in Central Florida. The primary undergraduate campus is located in DeLand, Florida, USA. In the 2012 U.S...
(1978) and Stetson University College of Law (1981). He has been a member of the Florida Bar since 1982.
Career
While beginning his law practice, Crawford worked for Democratic candidates John GlennJohn Glenn
John Herschel Glenn, Jr. is a former United States Marine Corps pilot, astronaut, and United States senator who was the first American to orbit the Earth and the third American in space. Glenn was a Marine Corps fighter pilot before joining NASA's Mercury program as a member of NASA's original...
and Walter Mondale
Walter Mondale
Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale is an American Democratic Party politician, who served as the 42nd Vice President of the United States , under President Jimmy Carter, and as a United States Senator for Minnesota...
. In 1982, he was an unsuccessful candidate for Florida’s state legislature
Florida House of Representatives
The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The House is composed of 120 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 156,677.The House convenes at...
as a Democrat. Crawford joined the staff of the Orlando Sentinel
Orlando Sentinel
The Orlando Sentinel is the primary newspaper of the Orlando, Florida region. It was founded in 1876. The Sentinel is owned by Tribune Company and is overseen by the Chicago Tribune. As of 2005, the Sentinel’s president and publisher was Kathleen Waltz; she announced her resignation in February 2008...
in 1985 as a legal affairs and politics reporter. In 1989, he moved to the paper's Washington bureau. In 1997, Crawford left the Sentinel to run The Hotline
The Hotline
The Hotline is a daily political briefing published by the Atlantic Media Company from its headquarters at The Watergate complex in Washington, DC. It is edited by Reid Wilson with Josh Kraushaar...
until 2003, when he joined Congressional Quarterly
Congressional Quarterly
Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is a privately owned publishing company that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress...
leading to his current work for NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
and MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
.
Crawford publicly resigned from MSNBC on March 5, 2010. In the comments section of his Congressional Quarterly blog, he wrote, "i [sic] simply could not any longer endure being a cartoon player for lefty games."
Crawford was a regular contributor to the John Batchelor
John Batchelor
John Calvin Batchelor is an author and host of The John Batchelor Show radio news magazine. Based at WABC radio in New York for five years from early 2001 to September, 2006; the show was syndicated nationally on the ABC radio network. On October 7, 2007, Batchelor returned to radio on WABC New...
and Paul Alexander radio show, broadcast from WABC - AM, New York. He also appeared on the CBS Early Show as a political contributor. The television work brought him to the attention of Don Imus
Don Imus
John Donald "Don" Imus, Jr. is an American radio host, humorist, philanthropist and writer. His nationally-syndicated talk show, Imus in the Morning, is broadcast throughout the United States by Citadel Media and relayed on television by the Fox Business Network.-Personal life:Imus was born in...
, where Crawford is a frequent guest on the Imus in the Morning radio/TV simulcast.
In 2005, Crawford released the book "Attack The Messenger: How Politicians Turn You Against The Media" which talks about "the role of politicians in taking advantage of that public distrust of the media."
In the 2008 Presidential campaign
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
, Crawford drew attention for his vigorous defense of Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
.Media Matters - Craig Crawford: "[M]any of us in the media tend to gang up on the Clintons" On Jan 26, 2008, for example, Crawford said, " I really think the evidence-free bias against the Clintons in the media borders on mental illness."
Craig Crawford is the most prominent member of the media to launch a grass roots campaign to raise money for Haiti disaster relief. Via his Trail Mix Blog, Mr. Crawford has raised close to $75,000 to provide Shelter Boxes to earthquake victims, shelter over 900 Haitians for up to 6 months in durable tents with enough food, clean water and other necessities to survive.
He currently is featured in a series of Web videos about Washington politics for Congress.org
Congress.org
Congress.org is a website run by the CQ-Roll Call Group which provides information on Congress and news about federal advocacy and activism. One tool on the site helps users find their elected officials and send e-mail to them.-Overview:...
, a Web site run by the CQ-Roll Call Group.
Personal life
Crawford is openly gay. Since 1987 he has lived with his partner David Blank, Deputy Communications Director, Alliance for Retired Americans.Works
- Listen Up Mr. President: Everything You Always Wanted Your President to Know and Do. (with co-author Helen ThomasHelen ThomasHelen Thomas is an American author and former news service reporter, member of the White House Press Corps and opinion columnist. She worked for the United Press and post-1958 successor United Press International for 57 years, first as a correspondent, and later as White House bureau manager...
) (Charles Scribner's SonsCharles Scribner's SonsCharles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing a number of American authors including Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Stephen King, Robert A. Heinlein, Thomas Wolfe, George Santayana, John Clellon...
, 2009) ISBN 1-4391-4815-5 - The Politics of Life: 25 Rules for Survival in a Brutal and Manipulative World] (Rowman & LittlefieldRowman & LittlefieldRowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books and journals for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns a book distributor, National Book Network...
, 2007) ISBN 0-7425-5250-0 - a kind of updated Machiavelli. - Attack the Messenger: How Politicians Turn You Against the Media.(Rowman & LittlefieldRowman & LittlefieldRowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books and journals for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns a book distributor, National Book Network...
, 2005) ISBN 0-7425-3816-8