BRODER, DAVID SALZER

BRODER, DAVID SALZER (1929– ), U.S. political columnist. Broder, who was born in Chicago Heights, Ill., received his bachelor's degree and a master's in political science from the University of Chicago. He served in the Army for two years. Upon his discharge in 1953, he got a job on The Pantagraph, a newspaper in Bloomington, Ill. Two years later he joined the Congressional Quarterly in Washington, where he stayed for five years. He covered his first presidential campaign, the Kennedy-Nixon election, in 1960 for The Washington Star. He covered national politics for The New York Times from 1965 to 1966 before joining The Washington Post. He covered every national political campaign and convention from 1960, traveling up to 100,000 miles a year to interview voters and report on the candidates. In May 1973 Broder won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary for his columns the previous year. He became an associate editor of the Post in 1975. His twice-weekly columns, which are nationally syndicated, cover a broad spectrum of American life beyond politics. In March 2001 the Washingtonian magazine rated Broder among the four leading and most influential journalists, calling him "the most unpredictable, reliable and intellectually honest columnist working today." He was also voted, in 1990, the "hardest working" and "least ideological" among 123 columnists by opinion-page editors of the largest 200 newspapers in the United States. Broder is also a regular commentator on television's leading public affairs programs. He is author or co-author of seven books, including Democracy Derailed: Initiative Campaigns and the Power of Money (2000) and Behind the Front Page: A Candid Look at How the News Is Made (1987). His column is carried by more than 300 newspapers around the world.

[Stewart Kampel (2^nd ed.)]