AP JOURNALISTS COVERING THE 2012 CAMPAIGN

Led by Senior Managing Editor for U.S. News Mike Oreskes, Washington Bureau Chief Sally Buzbee and Political Editor Liz Sidoti, these journalists are members of AP’s national political team:

Charles Babington is a political writer for The Associated Press in Washington, focusing on analysis and features on the topic of the 2012 elections. He has covered politics, Congress and the White House for the AP since 2007. Before that he worked at The Washington Post, where he covered Maryland politics, Congress and the White House. He also worked for daily newspapers in Greensboro, N.C; Dallas; and Raleigh, N.C. He has written for numerous magazines, including The New Republic and Columbia Journalism Review. A North Carolina native, Babington graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead Scholar. 

Tom Beaumont, a veteran chronicler of presidential politics and the Iowa Caucuses, is the Des Moines correspondent for The Associated Press, covering the Iowa caucuses and the Republican field. Beaumont joined the AP in March 2011 from The Des Moines Register, where he had served as the newspaper's chief political reporter since 2002. He led the paper's coverage of the White House aspirants who every four years spend months courting Iowa voters ahead of the state's first-in-the-nation caucus vote. As Des Moines correspondent, Beaumont joins a political coverage team that includes state government reporter Mike Glover and Iowa City Correspondent Ryan J. Foley. Beaumont joined the Register in 1999 as a general assignment and investigative reporter, focused on development in Des Moines' western suburbs. He took over as the paper's chief political reporter three years later, and has served as the lead writer for the newspaper's Iowa Poll since 2008. He previously covered courts and politics for The Southern Illinoisan in Carbondale, Ill. Beaumont, who grew up in southeastern Wisconsin, graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1989 and earned a master's degree in journalism from the school in 1993.

Philip Elliott is a political reporter covering the Republican presidential field for The Associated Press. He joined the Washington bureau in 2006 as political database editor, moved to New Hampshire in 2007 to cover the first-in-the-nation presidential primary and then covered the 2008 presidential campaign aboard Sen. John McCain’s and Sen. Barack Obama’s planes. After Obama won the presidency, Elliott was named a White House reporter and filed stories from New Hampshire to Hawaii. He left the White House team in 2010 to cover the 2010 midterm elections and the tea party’s role in reshaping Congress. Before AP, Elliott worked at newspapers in Ohio and Indiana. An Ohio native, he holds a bachelor’s degree from Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism.

David Espo is a special correspondent who has covered every presidential campaign since 1980. Espo, who joined AP in 1974, moved to Washington in 1977 after stops with AP in Cheyenne and Denver. He covered Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1980 and was assistant bureau chief in Washington from 1989 to 1993 before returning to reporting. A graduate of Haverford College, he was awarded the prestigious White House Correspondents Association Merriman Smith Award for his deadline reporting on election night in 1992. He also won an Everett Dirksen Award for distinguished congressional coverage in 2000.

Ben Feller has been White House correspondent since August 2010 for The Associated Press. He was the 2010 recipient of the Merriman Smith Award for presidential reporting on deadline for his coverage of President Barack Obama's late-night tribute to soldiers returning from war in flag-draped caskets at Dover Air Force Base in October 2009. He was the 2009 recipient of the Gerald R. Ford journalism prize for overall distinguished reporting on the presidency, including the Dover return, the president's Nobel prize, and an analysis of George W. Bush's presidency, among other pieces. He joined the AP in Washington in 2003 as a national education reporter and moved to the White House beat in November, 2006. Prior to joining the AP, he wrote for The Tampa Tribune, the News & Record in Greensboro, N.C., and the Centre Daily Times in State College, Pa. Feller is a native of State College. He graduated from Penn State University in 1992 with a degree in journalism.

Beth Fouhy covers national and state politics for The Associated Press, based in New York City. She was one of the AP’s lead political reporters in the 2008 presidential race, covering Hillary Rodham Clinton’s bid for the Democratic nomination and the McCain/Palin ticket in the general election. From 2003-2005, she was a political writer for the AP in San Francisco, where she covered the historic recall of Gov. Gray Davis and the election of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Before joining the AP, Fouhy spent 13 years at CNN in Washington covering politics and Capitol Hill. She served as executive producer of the network’s political unit during the 2000 presidential campaign. She is an honors graduate of Oberlin College and was a Knight Fellow at Stanford University in 2001-2002. In this election she is focusing on campaign media and advertising.

Jack Gillum is a campaign finance and investigative reporter for The Associated Press. Gillum joined the AP in July 2010 from USA Today, where he reported and wrote data-driven investigative projects. Among his stories: an examination of testing irregularities in Washington, D.C. schools as the system trumpeted reforms and a look at how taxpayer subsidies play a growing role in university sports programs. Working from the AP's Washington bureau, Gillum has been covering the role of money in campaigns throughout the 2012 election cycle at a time when court rulings have radically changed how outside groups can influence elections. Before joining USA Today in 2008, Gillum worked as a business reporter and database specialist for the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson, Ariz. He is a graduate of Santa Clara University and has a master's in journalism from Columbia University.

Jim Kuhnhenn has been covering the White House for The Associated Press since November 2010. Before bringing his expertise on economics, politics and Congress to the White House, he was a national political reporter for AP covering money and the media. His focus in 2008 was on fundraising and corporate influence at the political conventions, as well as advertising by the campaigns and outside groups. Kuhnhenn, who joined AP in 2006, covered his first presidential campaign in 1980. Before joining AP, he worked at Knight Ridder, where he covered Congress and politics in the 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns. A graduate of Penn State University, he has received the Keystone Award from the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association and shared a James K. Batten award for community journalism while at the Kansas City Star. He is covering President Barack Obama's re-election campaign.

Shannon McCaffrey has been covering politics and government for more than dozen years in New York, Washington and Georgia. She is covering the Republican field for The Associated Press. McCaffrey began her AP career in Albany, N.Y., where she helped cover the state Legislature and the New York political scene. She moved to Washington, D.C. as AP's New York regional reporter covering the state's congressional delegation. She covered the U.S. Senate race of Hillary Rodham Clinton and the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. After working as the Justice Department reporter for Knight Ridder, McCaffrey returned to The AP in 2006 in Atlanta as the Georgia political and statehouse reporter, covering two gubernatorial campaigns and a U.S. Senate runoff race. In this election cycle she's covered the presidential campaigns of Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich.

Julie Pace is national politics multimedia reporter/producer for The Associated Press. She is responsible for coordinating AP’s premium political coverage for online video, which includes behind-the-scenes campaign photography and a daily “Race Rundown,” which previews daily campaign events. Prior to joining AP in 2007, Pace was a multimedia reporter in Tampa, Fla., working for The Tampa Tribune, WFLA and TBO.com. She also previously worked as a reporter for eTV, a television station in South Africa, and as a freelancer in Zambia. Pace holds a degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Pace is covering President Barack Obama's re-election campaign.

Steve Peoples holds the new position of New England political writer for The Associated Press, covering the New Hampshire primary and the Republican field. Peoples joined the AP in June 2011 from the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call, where he had been covering presidential and congressional politics. Before Roll Call, Peoples was a top political writer at The Providence (R.I.) Journal, having worked his way up from coverage of local government. He also covered key political races in neighboring states, including the election of Sen. Scott Brown and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's 2008 bid for president. He’s a native of Moultonboro, N.H., and a graduate of the University of Southern Maine. Before moving to the Journal in 2003, he was a reporter at Foster's Daily Democrat in New Hampshire. He has a master's degree in public affairs from Brown University.

Liz Sidoti is the political editor in Washington for The Associated Press. She led AP’s coverage of the historic 2008 presidential contest. In her current role, she leads a team of political reporters in Washington and guides national coverage by AP's network of journalists in every state capital. A former Ohio statehouse reporter for the AP, she’s responsible for leveraging that unique 50-state resource to ensure the AP breaks political news, conveys the electorate's changing mood and explains issues that matter to voters. Above all, she will ensure that the AP provides clarity during an election that will affect every American. She has covered national politics for the AP since 2003. She was named chief national political writer in 2009, becoming the AP's lead reporter covering national campaigns while tracking political trends in federal, state and local governments and in the country at large. She is a veteran of two presidential campaigns—in 2004 and 2008—and two midterm congressional campaigns—in 2006 and 2010. She was a White House reporter for the AP covering President Barack Obama's first six months in office, and also spent 18 months reporting from Congress on national security and foreign affairs issues. She joined the AP in Cincinnati in 1999, and spent four years covering the Ohio Statehouse and politics. Prior to AP, she did reporting stints at The Columbus Dispatch, The Repository in Canton, Ohio, and the Record-Courier in Portage County, Ohio. A native of Kent, Ohio, Sidoti has a bachelor's degree in journalism from Ohio University.

Ken Thomas has been based in the AP’s Washington bureau since 2005. He has worked for The Associated Press since 1999, covering politics and the state legislature in Des Moines, Iowa, statewide politics in Florida and the auto industry. He got his start at the Charleston Daily Mail in Charleston, W.Va., where he covered local government and the county courthouse. Thomas is a graduate of Georgetown University and Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. He is covering President Barack Obama's re-election campaign.

Erica Werner covers the White House for The Associated Press. The California native joined the AP in 2000 in Los Angeles. She covered politics, including the 2003 recall election in which Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor. Werner then moved to Washington as the California-Nevada regional reporter. She subsequently moved to the national staff and Capitol Hill to cover the health care bill. Three years ago, she was assigned to the White House. Before joining AP, Werner worked for two years at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, including covering Little Rock City Hall. She is covering President Barack Obama's re-election campaign.