Mark Shields

political analyst, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer

Mark Shields is an American political columnist and commentator. Since 1988, Shields has provided weekly political analysis and commentary for PBS' award-winning *The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer*. Shields is also a regular panelist on *Inside Washington*, the weekly public affairs show that is seen on both PBS and ABC. For 17 years, Shields was moderator and panelist on CNN's *Capital Gang*. In 1968, Shields went to work for Robert F. Kennedy's presidential campaign. He later held leadership positions in the presidential campaigns of Edmund Muskie and Morris Udall, and was political director for Sargent Shriver when he ran for vice president on the Democratic ticket in 1972. Over more than a decade, he helped manage state and local campaigns in some 38 states. In 1979, Shields became an editorial writer for *The Washington Post*. He began writing a column the same year that is now distributed nationally by Creators Syndicate. He's covered the last 11 presidential campaigns and attended 17 national party conventions. Shields has taught American politics and the press at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, Georgetown University's Graduate School of Public Policy, and he was a fellow at Harvard's Kennedy Institute of Politics. He's author of* On the Campaign Trail*, about the 1984 presidential campaign.