Charlie Cook

Early life and education

Cook is the son of Mary Hudgens Cook and Charles Cook Sr. (Magnolia, Arkansas 1916–2012). His father was a highly decorated officer in the United States Army Air Force during World War II, and an electrical engineering graduate from the University of Arkansas. He has two sisters, Carole and Margaret, and a brother, Robert. Cook graduated in 1972 from Captain Shreve High School in Shreveport and attended Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

Career

In 1984, Cook founded the newsletter The Cook Political Report, which publishes analyses of the primaries and general elections for federal political offices and state governorships. The Report's predictions are accorded high credibility among journalists and politicians. Since the 1984 US presidential election, Cook has provided election night commentary for various television networks.

In 1994 he became a political analyst for NBC, and he has also provided political analysis for the National Journal. Cook writes two columns for the latter: "The Cook Report" for the main publication and "Off to the Races" for the online National Journal Congress Daily.

In 1997, Cook started producing the Cook Partisan Voting Index, a scoring metric of partisan lean in Congressional districts and states, which is still published biannually today and is frequently referenced in political commentary.

In 2006, Cook was inducted into the Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame in Winnfield. In 2010, he won the Carey McWilliams award from the American Political Science Association. The award is given annually to honor a major journalistic contribution to our understanding of politics and carries a prize of $750.

In 2013, he served as a Resident Fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics.

Leading up to the 2020 presidential election, Cook criticized poll aggregates and models such as RealClearPolitics and FiveThirtyEight, saying that there are "limitations" to aggregation. His critique was cited in The New York Times.

In 2021, Amy Walter took over Cook's roles as editor and publisher of the since-renamed Cook Political Report with Amy Walter. He will continue to write columns and analysis for the newsletter as well as for the National Journal.

Personal life

Cook and his wife Lucy live in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Notes

References

1. "Obituary of Charles Cook, Sr.". [[The Times (Shreveport).
2. (1996). "CHARLES COOK, JR.". [[CNN]].
3. Milbank, Dana. (October 25, 2006). "When It Comes to Politics, Charlie Cook Has the Prophecy Market Cornered". [[The Washington Post]].
4. "Charlie Cook {{!}} C-SPAN.org".
5. "The Almanac Of American Politics".
6. "Charlie Cook".
7. "Louisiana Political Museum and Hall of Fame". cityofwinnfield.com.
8. (October 4, 2011). "Carey McWilliams Award Winners". [[American Political Science Association]].
9. (Spring 2013). "Charlie Cook". [[Harvard Institute of Politics]].
10. (2020-08-07). "The Polling Is Imperfect, but It’s Bad News for Trump".
11. Peters, Jeremy W.. (November 17, 2020). "A Popular Political Site Made a Sharp Right Turn. What Steered It?".
12. "Charles E. Cook, Jr.". The Cook Political Report.