CLIFF SCHECTER (PRINCIPAL & PRESIDENT)

Cliff Schecter is an author, pundit and public relations strategist whose firm Libertas, LLC handles media relations for political, corporate and non-profit clients. In 2008, his first book, The Real McCain: Why Conservatives Don’t Trust Him—And Why Independents Shouldn’t, was published by PoliPoint Press and became a political and non-fiction bestseller on Amazon.com. As Founder and President of Libertas, he has counseled organizations like Mayors Against Illegal Guns and the Alliance for Climate Protection, as well as The American Association for Justice (previously The American Trial Lawyers Association), Joyce Foundation and IBM.

Schecter was a polling analyst in 1996, helping re-elect President Bill Clinton. As a political and media strategist over the past decade and a half since, he has worked with the Democratic National Committee, AFL-CIO and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Schecter has also been a lecturer for the U.S. State Department, giving briefings on American politics to diplomats, journalists and academics in countries such as South Africa, Australia and Romania.

Schecter is a weekly columnist for Al Jazeera English and contributor to The Guardian Online and Huffington Post. Previously, he’s had columns syndicated by United Press International and Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, and his writing has been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, Philadelphia Daily News, Miami Herald, The American Prospect, Salon.com and The Washington Monthly. His ideas have been quoted in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Baltimore Sun and he’s been profiled in U.S News & World Report and Wired.com.

Over the past decade, Schecter has been a regular guest on PBS, MSNBC, CNN FoxNews, BBC and NPR. He was an on-air political analyst for the Sinclair Broadcast Network in 2004, syndicated on 60 local broadcast-news affiliates to 38 media markets around the country. He served in a similar capacity for Al Jazeera in 2008, with his analysis reaching countries spanning the globe.

Schecter is a graduate of the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs (MA), the University of Pennsylvania (BA) and the Institut de Francais.