Eleanor Clift became a contributing editor in September 1994. She writes on the Washington power structure, the influence of women in politics and other issues. She is currently assigned to follow the jockeying over policy and politics in the new age of Obama. The change that Barack Obama promises has the potential of transforming how Washington does business, re-setting priorities and confronting the major challenges facing America. Clift brings her perspective to analyze whether our political leaders are capable of seizing the moment, and what the impact will be of a new politically engaged population. Her column, “Capitol Letter,” is posted each Friday on Newsweek.com.

Formerly Newsweek’s White House correspondent, Clift also served as congressional and political correspondent for six years. She was a key member of the magazine’s 1992 election team, following the campaign of Bill Clinton from its start to inauguration day. In June 1992 she was named deputy Washington bureau chief.

As a reporter in Newsweek’s Atlanta bureau, Clift covered Jimmy Carter’s bid for the presidency. She followed Carter to Washington to become Newsweek’s White House correspondent, a position she held until 1985. Clift began her career as a secretary to Newsweek’s National Affairs editor in New York. She was one of the first women at the magazine to move from secretary to reporter.

Clift left Newsweek briefly in 1985 to serve as White House correspondent for The Los Angeles Times. She returned to Newsweek the following year to cover the Iran-Contra scandal, which tarnished the Reagan White House.

Clift is a regular panelist on the syndicated talk show, “The McLaughlin Group.” She has appeared as herself in several movies, including “Dave,” “Independence Day,” “Murder at 1600,” “Rising Sun,” and the CBS series, “Murphy Brown.”

Clift and her late husband, Tom Brazaitis, who was a columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, wrote two books together, War Without Bloodshed: The Art of Politics (Scribner, 1996), and Madam President:  Shattering the Last Glass Ceiling (Scribner, 2000). Madam President is available in paperback (Routledge Press). Clift’s book, Founding Sisters, is about the passage of the 19th amendment giving women the vote (John Wiley & Sons, 2003).  Her most recent book, Two Weeks of Life: A Memoir of Love, Death and Politics is about the loss of her husband together with an examination of how we deal with death in America.

Clift was a member of the Newsweek reporting team that contributed to “A Long Time Coming,” written by Evan Thomas (Public Affairs, 2009). She lives in Washington, D.C. where she is on the board of the International Women’s Media Foundation, the Center for Politics and Journalism, and the National Hospice Foundation.