Gingrich, Romney: The Electability Gap

Dick Morris, one of the nation's most prominent political consultants, is almost universally credited with piloting Bill Clinton to a stunning comeback re-election victory in 1996, after the president lost Congress to the Republicans two years before. Called “the most influential private citizen in America” by Time magazine, Morris helped steer Clinton to the center and away from the liberal policies he had pursued in his first two years in office. Morris is also credited with advising Clinton to sign the welfare reform bill of 1996 and getting him to back a balanced budget, both key centrist positions.

Morris began his relationship with Clinton in 1977, when he handled the Arkansas attorney general's successful campaign to become the youngest governor in the nation. Morris did not work on Clinton's defeat for re-election in 1980, but he did oversee his comeback victory in 1982, as well as his re-election victories in 1984, 1986 and 1990.

In addition to Clinton, Morris has handled the winning campaigns for more than 30 senators and governors, including Republican Senator and former Majority Leader Trent Lott and former Govs. Bill Weld of Massachusetts and Pete Wilson of California.

In recent years, Morris has turned to foreign campaigns and served as chief strategist for Mexico's reformer Vicente Fox in his upset victory in July 2000 over the PRI, after that party had ruled the nation for 71 years. He also was the chief strategist for the winning campaigns of Fernando de la Rua (Argentina), Jorge Battle (Uruguay), Chen Shui-bian (Taiwan) and, most recently, for Viktor Yushchenko, the Ukrainian presidential candidate who was poisoned during his campaign. He also handled the winning campaign for the new president of Mexico, Felipe Calderon.

In the United States, Morris has become a familiar figure as a commentator for Fox News.

He is well known for hard-hitting, nonpartisan, objective commentary about the U.S.

political scene.

He writes a weekly column for the New York Post, another for The Hill newspaper in Washington, D.C., and another for FoxNews.

Morris has written 10 books, including six New York Timesbest sellers. His most recent, written with his wife, Eileen McGann, is "Outrage: How Illegal Immigration, the U.N., Congressional Ripoffs, Student Loan Overcharges, Tobacco Companies, Trade Protection and Drug Companies Are Ripping Us Off ... and What to Do About It."

The other best-sellers are: "Behind the Oval Office" (his memoir about the Clinton years), "Off With Their Heads" (about the war on terror), "Rewriting History" (a biography of Hillary Clinton he wrote with his wife, McGann), "Because He Could" (about Bill Clinton, also with McGann) and "Condi vs. Hillary" (promoting Condoleezza Rice for president, written with Mcgann). His other books are: "Power Plays," "Vote.com," "The New Prince" and "Bum Rap on American Cities," which he wrote in the '70s.

In November 1999, Morris founded a website in the United States called Vote.com, where people may log on to vote on the major issues of the day. Their opinions are then e-mailed to their senators and representatives and to other significant decision-makers. Over 3 million people have used this site to express their opinions.

As part of his work with Vote.com, Dick -- along with McGann -- founded Legalvote.com, an online jury focus group service. They have conducted online focus groups in over 100 cases, and their clients include two of the top insurance companieshttp://www.creators.com/opinion/dick-morris-about.html the United States, as well as many of the major plaintiff lawyers in the nation.

Morris lives with McGann, his wife of 30 years, in Florida.