CONVERSATIONS ON THE STATE OF AMERICAN POLITICS WITH ROBERT MERRY at Whidbey Island Center for The Arts

Thomas Edsall, who currently writes a weekly column for The New York Times web editions, has had a distinguished career as journalist, author, political commentator, and academic. He spent 14 years as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun, including as the paper’s congressional correspondent, before joining The Washington Post in 1981. At the Post he emerged as a leading political reporter on the national scene, with particular emphasis on social and cultural trends, demographics, racial politics, and the political impact of economic forces in society. Following his 25-year stint at the Post, Edsall taught at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, where he held the Joseph Pulitzer II and Edith Pulitzer Moore professorship of public affairs journalism. For the past 12 years he has been writing for the New York Times web site.