Monday, Nov. 28, 1988

From the Publisher

By Robert L. Miller

During an interview on 60 Minutes last year that included talk about his presidential aspirations, CBS's Diane Sawyer reminded George Bush that Michael Kramer, one of the nation's savviest political journalists, had once suggested the Vice President was a wimp. Replied Bush, who rarely singles out reporters for attack: "You know Michael Kramer? He'll never play linebacker for the Chicago Bears. You ever seen him?" Kramer, 43, may never rush down Soldier Field, but last week he joined TIME's team as special correspondent. His first piece for the magazine, an analysis of the new Administration's coming conflicts with Congress, appears in this week's Nation section.

A political science major at Amherst College and a graduate of Columbia Law School, Kramer brings an impressive amount of journalistic yardage to TIME. He spent more than a decade as an editor and political writer for New York magazine, and his weekly column on national affairs was often quoted by other journals. He did a short stint as publisher of the paperback house Berkley Books. In the mid-1970s, Kramer was editor and publisher of More, a lively journalism review. Most recently he served as chief political correspondent for U.S. News & World Report.

Although busy with the demands of magazine journalism and with his marriage to Kimba Wood, a federal judge, Kramer has found time to co-write two books: The Ethnic Factor: How America's Minorities Decide Elections and I Never Wanted to Be Vice-President of Anything!, a biography of Nelson Rockefeller. "I've known Michael a long time," says chief of correspondents John Stacks. "He's one of the most energetic, intelligent and assiduous reporters around. He's endlessly curious."

Kramer's inquisitiveness will serve TIME's readers well, and not only on politics. He will range around the magazine, writing about national and international affairs, and contributing to sections like Profile, Interview and Essay. Kramer says he might even be persuaded to write about the Chicago Bears. Or George Bush, with whom he is getting along much better these days. About the only thing that does not interest Kramer is the Law section. Says he: "Law school cured me." The loss to jurisprudence, not to mention to the Bears, is our gain.