JEFFREY H. BIRNBAUM

Political Correspondent
TIME Magazine

Jeffrey Birnbaum is a senior correspondent for TIME in the magazine's Washington bureau. He covers national politics with an emphasis on the White House, lobbying and the presidential campaign. He joined TIME in February, 1995.

A native of Scranton, Pennsylvania, Birnbaum graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1977. He began his career in journalism that same year as a Dow Jones Newspaper Fund reporting intern in The Wall Street Journal's Philadelphia bureau and as a federal court stringer for the Associated Press. In 1978 he joined the news staff of the Miami Herald, where he was a suburban reporter and later a state bureau reporter.

In January 1979, Birnbaum joined The Wall Street Journal's New York bureau covering apparel, textiles and retailing, and in 1982 he moved to the Washington D.C. bureau where he covered Congress and politics. In 1992, Birnbaum was named White House Correspondent for the Journal, and in 1994 won the Aldo Beckman Memorial Award for excellence in feature writing about the Presidency.

In 1987, Showdown at Gucci Gulch, his book co-authored with Wall Street Journal reporter Alan Murray, was published by Random House. The two were awarded the American Political Science Association's Carey McWilliams Award for the book in 1988.

In late 1992, Birnbaum's second book, The Lobbyists was published by a Random House subsidiary, Times Books, and quickly became a Washington Post best-seller. It was selected as one of the Outstanding Books of 1993 by Choice Magazine and is now in paperback.

Birnbaum has appeared on Washington Week in Review, The Today Show, the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, Nightline, the Charlie Rose Show, Canada's News World and CNN's Inside Politics and Crossfire, among others. He also has lectured for trade associations, professional seminars at several major colleges, including Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Texas. In 1994, he became a regular commentator for "All Things Considered," on National Public Radio.

Birnbaum and his wife Deborah, have a son, Michael and a daughter, Julia.