Craig Crawford (born 1956) is an American writer and
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
political commentator
A pundit is a person who offers mass media opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport).
Origins
The term originates from the Sanskrit term ('' '' ), meaning "knowledg ...
based in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
Publisher of the news commenting forum, Trail Mix, Crawford was a columnist for ''
Congressional Quarterly
Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is part of a privately owned publishing company called CQ Roll Call that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress. CQ was acquired by the Economist Group and combined ...
'', Editor-in-Chief of National Journal's ''
The Hotline
''The Hotline'' is a daily political briefing published by Atlantic Media from its headquarters at The Watergate complex in Washington, D.C.. Founded in 1987, It is currently edited by Kyle Trygstad. and published independently until its acquisi ...
'', and Washington Bureau Chief for ''
The Orlando Sentinel
The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company.
The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by parent company, '' Tribune ...
'', and the author of ''Listen Up Mr. President: Everything You Always Wanted Your President to Know and Do'', ''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, Kentucky
Owensboro is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Daviess County, Kentucky, United States. It is the fourth-largest city in the state by population. Owensboro is located on U.S. Route 60 and Interstate 165 about southwest of Lou ...
. During his childhood, Crawford moved with his family to
Orlando, Florida
Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...
, where he attended Pineloch Elementary School and
Oak Ridge High 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 Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
.
While still in high school, Crawford served as a page to Republican Senator
Ed Gurney.
In 1976, while attending
Stetson University
Stetson University is a private university with four colleges and schools located across the I–4 corridor in Central Florida with the primary undergraduate campus in DeLand. The university was founded in 1883 and was later established in 1887 ...
, he worked on
Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign.
After the 1976 election, Crawford transferred to
American University
The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...
in Washington to
intern
An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...
in the Carter White House press office. Crawford graduated from
Stetson University
Stetson University is a private university with four colleges and schools located across the I–4 corridor in Central Florida with the primary undergraduate campus in DeLand. The university was founded in 1883 and was later established in 1887 ...
(1978) and
Stetson University College of Law
Stetson University College of Law (Stetson Law), founded in 1900 and part of Stetson University, is Florida's first law school. Originally located near the university's main campus in DeLand, Florida, the law school moved in 1954 to Gulfport, Fl ...
(1981). He has been a member of the Florida Bar since 1982.
[About Craig Crawford (CQ Politics)](_blank)
Career
While beginning his law practice, Crawford worked for Democratic candidates
John Glenn and
Walter Mondale
Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (January 5, 1928 – April 19, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 42nd vice president of the United States from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. A U.S. senator from Minnesota ...
. In 1982, he was an unsuccessful candidate for
Florida's state legislature as a Democrat. Crawford joined the staff of the ''
Orlando Sentinel
The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company.
The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by parent company, '' Tribune P ...
'' 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'' is a daily political briefing published by Atlantic Media from its headquarters at The Watergate complex in Washington, D.C.. Founded in 1987, It is currently edited by Kyle Trygstad. and published independently until its acquisi ...
until 2003, when he joined ''
Congressional Quarterly
Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is part of a privately owned publishing company called CQ Roll Call that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress. CQ was acquired by the Economist Group and combined ...
'' leading to his work for
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
,
CNBC
CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sho ...
and
MSNBC
MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...
.
Crawford publicly resigned from MSNBC on March 5, 2010. In the comments section of his ''Congressional Quarterly'' blog, he wrote, "i
icsimply could not any longer endure being a cartoon player for lefty games."
Crawford was a regular contributor to the
John Batchelor
John Calvin Batchelor (born April 29, 1948) is an American author and host of ''Eye on the World'' on the CBS Audio Network. His flagship station is New York's 710 WOR. The show is a hard-news-analysis radio program on current events, world his ...
and Paul Alexander radio show, broadcast from WABC - AM, New York. He also appeared on the CBS Early Show as a political contributor. Crawford was also a frequent guest on the
Imus
Imus, officially the City of Imus ( fil, Lungsod ng Imus), is a 3rd class Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city and ''de jure'' Capital city, capital of the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Cavite, Philippines ...
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, Crawford defended
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
and
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
following President Clinton's response to a press question about why it "takes two of you" to beat
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
. On January 26, 2008 Crawford appeared on the MSNBC program ''
Morning Joe
''Morning Joe'' is an American morning news and liberal talk show, airing weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time Zone, Eastern Time on the cable news channel MSNBC. It features former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough r ...
'' defending his position toward the Clintons. and Crawford appeared again on ''
Morning Joe
''Morning Joe'' is an American morning news and liberal talk show, airing weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time Zone, Eastern Time on the cable news channel MSNBC. It features former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough r ...
'' on January 29, 2008 to further defend his statements.
In 2015 Crawford was hired to serve as Communications Director for the presidential campaign of former Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA).
Charity work
Craig Crawford launched a grass roots campaign to raise money for Haiti disaster relief. Via his Trail Mix Blog, Mr. Crawford raised close to $75,000 to provide shelter to over 900 Haitian earthquake victims, each shelter providing up to 6 months in durable tents with enough food, clean water and other necessities to survive.
Personal life
Crawford is openly gay.
Since 1987 he has lived with his partner David Blank, Deputy Communications Director, Alliance for Retired Americans
They were marriedin the District of Columbia on April 6, 2013.
Works
*''Listen Up Mr. President: Everything You Always Wanted Your President to Know and Do.'' (with co-author
Helen Thomas
Helen Amelia Thomas (August 4, 1920 – July 20, 2013) was an American reporter and author, and a long serving member of the White House press corps. She covered the White House during the administrations of ten U.S. presidents—from th ...
) (
Charles Scribner's Sons
Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing American authors including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjorie Kinnan Rawli ...
, 2009)
*''The Politics of Life: 25 Rules for Survival in a Brutal and Manipulative World'' (
Rowman & Littlefield
Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing compa ...
, 2007) - a kind of updated Machiavelli.
*''Attack the Messenger: How Politicians Turn You Against the Media''.(
Rowman & Littlefield
Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an independent publishing house founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing compa ...
, 2005)
References
External links
Craig Crawford, Publisher, Trail Mix*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crawford, Craig
1956 births
Living people
People from Owensboro, Kentucky
People from Orlando, Florida
American University alumni
Stetson University alumni
American political commentators
Stetson University College of Law alumni
American LGBT journalists
21st-century LGBT people