Fred Barnes joined the FOX team in 1996 as a political contributor. He is co-host of "The Beltway Boys" and a regular contributor to "Special Report with Brit Hume," the No. 1 weeknight political program on cable.

After 10 years as senior editor and White House correspondent for The New Republic, Barnes founded The Weekly Standard with William Kristol and John Podhoretz. Today he serves as its executive editor.

In addition, Barnes hosts two weekly radio shows, "Issues in the News" on Voice of America and "What’s the Story." He also appears as chief correspondent on the PBS Series, "National Desk."

From 1988 to 1998, Barnes was a regular panelist on "The McLaughlin Group" public affairs television program.

Over the years, he has written for Reader's Digest, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Spectator, Washingtonian, The Public Interest, Policy Review and both The Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Times of London.

The Media Guide has given Barnes four stars — its highest rating — and called him "a great political reporter-columnist" whose material is "exquisitely timed."

Barnes is a graduate of the University of Virginia and was a Neiman Fellow at Harvard University.