BOB BECKEL

Co-Host of Crossfire Sunday

Bob Beckel is the co-host from the left on CNN's political debate program Crossfire Sunday. The program airs on Sundays from 7:30 - 8 p.m. (ET). He brings a veteran's perspective from his years in the White House, on Capitol Hill and leading dozens of election campaigns.

After a political baptism as a college student in Robert Kennedy's 1968 campaign, a tour of duty in the Peace Corps and a successful stint heading up his own consulting firm, Beckel joined the government in 1977. As the deputy assistant secretary of state, he steered the controversial Panama Canal Treaties through Congress. He moved to the Carter White House to head an administration effort to press Congress into passing the Middle East and Salt II treaties.

He resumed his career as a political consultant until Walter Mondale asked him to manage his 1984 campaign for the presidency. As national campaign manager, he oversaw the successful race for the Democratic nomination.

Beckel is Chairman of Beckel Cowan, a Cassidy Company. Beckel Cowan is the successor to Bob Beckel & Associates, a company he formed in 1985 as an innovative consulting firm specializing in grassroots campaigns. In addition to its grassroots activities, Beckel Cowan is a political analysis and public affairs company which monitors trends and developing issues in American politics for its clients. He hold a B.A. from Wagner College in Staten Island, NY.