John D. McCormick

Last updated

John McCormick is a Wall Street Journal reporter based in Chicago who covers national politics and government. He followed Barack Obama's presidential bid from its start in February 2007 and traveled with the candidate to nearly 40 states while working for the Chicago Tribune . Obama and McCormick developed a friendly rapport during the campaign. In August 2008, McCormick asked Obama if he was still "shopping" for a vice president. Obama's rebuke was, "John, how long did it take you to think of that question?" [1]

Contents

On Nov. 7, 2008, during the Q&A portion of a news conference [2] carried live on all major U.S. television networks, the then-president-elect allowed a handful of reporters to ask questions. Then, looking at the list of potential questioners on his podium, Obama smiled and called out, "Where is John McCormick?". [3] McCormick's question was about the Senate seat Obama was vacating and whether he had any advice for the Illinois governor who, by statute, would be naming Obama's successor in the U.S. Senate.

A testier exchange [4] took place on Dec. 16, 2008, when the reporter asked Obama about a list of favored potential replacements for his senate seat that had reportedly been given by his aides to then Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The Washington Post made mention of the exchange in a column by Dana Milbank. [5]

McCormick worked for Bloomberg News from 2009 until 2019, when he joined the Wall Street Journal. [6]

Early life and education

McCormick was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is a 1987 graduate of Roseville Area High School and 1991 graduate of the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota).

Since his teenage years, McCormick has been an FCC-licensed amateur radio operator. His station includes a tower with a five-element yagi on the top, connected to an ICOM IC-756PRO transceiver. He is a skilled contester and DXer and active on most ham frequencies.

Professional career

During his senior year of college, McCormick interned at the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune newspaper. About a month after graduation, he started a job at the Rochester Post-Bulletin in southeastern Minnesota, where he covered police, courts, local government, before being assigned to cover the Minnesota Legislature and state government in St. Paul.

In 1997, he moved to The Des Moines Register , where he initially worked as a business reporter and then became the paper's first computer-assisted reporting coordinator. He also helped cover the 2000 Iowa caucuses and was one of two Iowa Poll writers.

McCormick was hired by the Chicago Tribune in 2002. There, he has done investigative and project reporting, and has covered major news stories in Chicago and across the Midwest, including the 2002 fatal plane crash of Sen. Paul Wellstone in northern Minnesota. In 2003 and 2004, he was on a team of reporters who covered the presidential campaign.

In 2007, McCormick won the Chicago Tribune's Beck Award for Outstanding Profession Performance with another reporter for a year-long series on teen driving fatalities [7] that led to changes in Illinois law. In 2009, he won the Chicago Tribune's Beck Award for Domestic Reporting with two other reporters for coverage of Obama's campaign.

After being promoted to the Tribune's Washington Bureau, McCormick resigned from the newspaper in July 2009 to join Bloomberg's Chicago Bureau.

McCormick left Bloomberg in May 2019 to join the Wall Street Journal as a Chicago-based national political reporter. [8]

Related Research Articles

<i>Chicago Tribune</i> Major American newspaper, founded 1847

The Chicago Tribune is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", it remains the most-read daily newspaper in the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region. In 2022, it had the seventh-highest circulation of any newspaper in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medill School of Journalism</span> Journalism school of Northwestern University

The Medill School of Journalism is the journalism school of Northwestern University. It offers both undergraduate and graduate programs. It frequently ranks as the top school of journalism in the United States. Medill alumni include over 40 Pulitzer Prize laureates, numerous national correspondents for major networks, many well-known reporters, columnists and media executives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bobby Rush</span> American politician (born 1946)

Bobby Lee Rush is an American politician, activist and pastor who served as the U.S. representative for Illinois's 1st congressional district for three decades. A civil rights activist during the 1960s, Rush co-founded the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rahm Emanuel</span> American politician and diplomat (born1959)

Rahm Israel Emanuel is an American politician and diplomat currently serving as United States ambassador to Japan. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Illinois in the United States House of Representatives for three terms from 2003 to 2009. He was the White House Chief of Staff from 2009 to 2010 under Barack Obama and served as mayor of Chicago from 2011 to 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rod Blagojevich</span> Governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009

Rod Blagojevich, often referred to by his nickname "Blago", is an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009. He was impeached, removed from office, convicted, and incarcerated for eight years on federal charges of public corruption. A member of the Democratic Party, Blagojevich previously worked in both the state and federal legislatures. He served as an Illinois state representative from 1993 to 1997, and the U.S. representative from Illinois's 5th district from 1997 to 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barack Obama</span> President of the United States from 2009 to 2017

Barack Hussein Obama II is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. As a member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African-American president in U.S. history. Obama previously served as a U.S. senator representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008, and as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004.

<i>Chicago Reader</i> Alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago

The Chicago Reader, or Reader, is an American alternative newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. The Reader has been recognized as a pioneer among alternative weeklies for both its creative nonfiction and its commercial scheme. Richard Karpel, then-executive director of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, wrote:

[T]he most significant historical event in the creation of the modern alt-weekly occurred in Chicago in 1971, when the Chicago Reader pioneered the practice of free circulation, a cornerstone of today's alternative papers. The Reader also developed a new kind of journalism, ignoring the news and focusing on everyday life and ordinary people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Medill Patterson</span> American journalist

Joseph Medill Patterson was an American journalist, publisher and founder of the Daily News in New York. At the time of his death the Daily News maintained a Sunday circulation of 4.5 million copies, the largest circulation of any paper in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roland Burris</span> American politician and attorney (born 1937)

Roland Wallace Burris is an American retired Democratic politician and attorney who served as Attorney General of Illinois from 1991 to 1995. In January 2009, he was appointed a United States Senator, succeeding Barack Obama, who resigned to become president of the United States. Burris held this position until November 2010, retiring from front-line politics shortly after.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medill McCormick</span> American publisher, Congressman, and Senator (1877–1925)

Joseph Medill McCormick was part of the McCormick family of businessmen and politicians in Chicago. After working as a publisher for some time and becoming part owner of the Chicago Tribune, which his maternal grandfather had owned, he entered politics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2004 United States Senate election in Illinois</span>

The 2004 United States Senate election in Illinois was held on November 2, 2004. Incumbent Republican Senator Peter Fitzgerald decided to retire after one term. The Democratic and Republican primary elections were held in March, which included a total of 15 candidates who combined to spend a record total of over $60 million seeking the open seat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">US Senate career of Barack Obama</span>

The United States Senate career of Barack Obama began on January 3, 2005, and ended on November 16, 2008. A member of the Democratic Party from the state of Illinois, Obama previously served three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2005. He resigned his seat in the U.S. Senate upon being elected President of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Ayers 2008 presidential election controversy</span> Election campaign controversy

During the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign, controversy broke out regarding Barack Obama's relationship with Bill Ayers, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a former leader of the Weather Underground, a radical left organization in the 1970s. Investigations by CNN, The New York Times and other news organizations concluded that Obama did not have a close relationship with Ayers.

Barack Obama, who served as the 44th President of the United States, has elicited a number of public perceptions regarding his personality and background. As the first African-American President of the United States, his race and culture played a prominent role, both positively and negatively.

John Patrick McCormick, known professionally as John P. McCormick, is a former correspondent for Newsweek and the current editorial page editor for the Chicago Tribune. Before joining the Tribune, he was Newsweek's Midwest correspondent for 18 years. He was the recipient of the American Society of Newspaper Editors' 2002 Distinguished Writing Award for Editorial Writing, for his editorials on the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Afghanistan War, the "Renaissance of Black Chicago", and efforts to sell naming rights for Soldier Field. In December 2008, he also drew considerable attention for his role in the Rod Blagojevich scandal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rod Blagojevich corruption charges</span> 2008 indictment of the then-Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich with corruption

In December 2008, then-Democratic Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff John Harris were charged with corruption by federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. As a result, Blagojevich was impeached by the Illinois General Assembly and removed from office by the Illinois Senate in January 2009. The federal investigation continued after his removal from office, and he was indicted on corruption charges in April of that year. The jury found Blagojevich guilty of one charge of making false statements with a mistrial being declared on the other 23 counts due to a hung jury after 14 days of jury deliberation. On June 27, 2011, after a retrial, Blagojevich was found guilty of 17 charges, not guilty on one charge and the jury deadlocked after 10 days of deliberation on the two remaining charges. On December 7, 2011, Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social policy of the Barack Obama administration</span> Social policy

The Almanac of American Politics (2008) rated Barack Obama's overall social policies in 2006 as more conservative than 21% of the Senate, and more liberal than 77% of the Senate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dom Orejudos</span> American artist, dancer, and choreographer (1933–1991)

Domingo Francisco Juan Esteban "Dom" Orejudos, Secundo, also widely known by the pen names Etienne and Stephen, was an openly gay artist, ballet dancer, and choreographer, best known for his ground-breaking masculine gay male erotica beginning in the 1950s. Along with artists George Quaintance and Touko Laaksonen – with whom he became friends – Orejudos' leather-themed art promoted an image of gay men as strong and masculine, as an alternative to the then-dominant stereotype as weak and effeminate. With his first lover and business partner Chuck Renslow, Orejudos established many landmarks of late-20th-century gay male culture, including the Gold Coast bar, Man's Country bathhouse, the International Mr. Leather competition, Chicago's August White Party, and the magazines Triumph, Rawhide, and Mars. He was also active and influential in the Chicago ballet community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1930 United States Senate election in Illinois</span> Illinois state-wide election of a Senator to United States Senate

The 1930 United States Senate election in Illinois took place on November 4, 1930.

Tracy Baim is a Chicago-based LGBT journalist, editor, author, and filmmaker. She is also a former publisher of the Chicago Reader newspaper.

References

  1. ↑ Obama Shops at NC Farmers Market, Won't Discuss VP-Shopping (ABC News, August 20, 2008)
  2. ↑ Obama news conference (YouTube video of C-SPAN, Nov. 7, 2008)
  3. ↑ NBC Nightly News Clip Archived 2008-09-05 at the Wayback Machine ( NBC Nightly News , November 7, 2008)
  4. ↑ Obama news conference (YouTube video of CNN, Dec. 16, 2008)
  5. ↑ Washington Post clip ("Obama's Pressers: No Comment -- and NoDoz", Washington Post, Dec. 17, 2008)
  6. ↑ "Robservations: Tracy Baim celebrates 35 years as media trailblazer - Robert Feder".
  7. ↑ teen driving fatalities
  8. ↑ "Robservations: Tracy Baim celebrates 35 years as media trailblazer - Robert Feder".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.