Mark Schmitt Mark Schmitt is executive editor of The American Prospect. Schmitt has been a contributor to the Prospect since 2001 and a columnist for the magazine since 2005, as well as a frequent contributor to TAPPED. He was a senior fellow at the New America Foundation where he helped to develop a new initiative on The Next Social Contract, a cross-cutting effort to find the underlying principles and policies appropriate to the emerging economy. Before joining the New America Foundation in 2005, Mark was a program director at the Open Society Institute in New York for seven years. Previously, he served as policy director for Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey, as well as a senior adviser on Bradley’s 2000 presidential campaign. He is an expert on budget and tax policy, reform of the political process, and the history and role of ideas in politics. Mark’s writing has also been published in The New York Times, The New Republic, Democracy, the Financial Times and other publications, and he has contributed chapters to several books. His own blog, The Decembrist, was named one of the five best political blogs by Forbes magazine in 2003, and he has also been a regular contributor to TPM Café.