Ron Elving
Ron Elving is Senior Editor and Correspondent on the Washington Desk for NPR News, where he is frequently heard as a news analyst and writes regularly for NPR.org.
He is also a professorial lecturer and Executive in Residence in the School of Public Affairs at American University, where he has also taught in the School of Communication. In 2016, he was honored with the University Faculty Award for Outstanding Teaching in an Adjunct Appointment. He has also taught at George Mason and Georgetown.
He was previously the political editor for USA Today and for Congressional Quarterly. He has been published by the Brookings Institution and the American Political Science Association. He has contributed chapters on Obama and the media and on the media role in Congress to the academic studies Obama in Office 2011, and Rivals for Power, 2013. Ron's earlier book, Conflict and Compromise: How Congress Makes the Law, was published by Simon & Schuster and is also a Touchstone paperback.
During his tenure as manager of NPR's Washington desk from 1999 to 2014, the desk's reporters were awarded every major recognition available in radio journalism, including the Dirksen Award for Congressional Reporting and the Edward R. Murrow Award from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. In 2008, the American Political Science Association awarded NPR the Carey McWilliams Award "in recognition of a major contribution to the understanding of political science."
Ron came to Washington in 1984 as a Congressional Fellow with the American Political Science Association and worked for two years as a staff member in the House and Senate. Previously, he had been state capital bureau chief for The Milwaukee Journal.
He received his bachelor's degree from Stanford University and master's degrees from the University of Chicago and the University of California – Berkeley.
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Jimmy Carter was a former one-term governor from Georgia, almost unknown nationally, when he broke through in Iowa and New Hampshire early in 1976 and rode that momentum all the way to Washington. -
It's unclear how the issue of ownership of the Panama Canal became a talking point for President-elect Donald Trump this week, but the question has a long political history. -
Vows to shrink the deficit, pay down the debt and run government more like a business have long been a stock element of politics. Candidates for office who have business backgrounds made it a mantra. -
Nominees for several key Cabinet posts in the new administration of President-elect Trump caught officials in Washington off guard and ignited a firestorm of criticism — not all of it from Democrats. -
The lessons of history about second-term presidents and second-term Republicans in particular are not just the stuff of textbooks. They can offer guidance and perhaps even temper expectations. -
Former President Donald Trump needs voters who may have misgivings about him or some of his behavior but who have deep loyalty to the Republican Party or deep aversion to the Democrats. -
It is not uncommon for political commentators to call a late-breaking story during a presidential election an "October surprise" — even when there is little evidence that it mattered all that much. -
Vice presidential debates have produced many memorable moments, but it’s hard to say any has made a decisive difference in the election outcome. It’s worth recalling how much media heat and drama they have generated. -
Far from being disqualifying, this feature of the Trump persona presents itself as part and parcel of his appeal. -
A look back at other sitting vice presidents who were running for the top job and debating on TV against the nominee of the opposition party: Gore in 2000, George H.W. Bush in 1988 and Nixon in 1960.
