Writing

Andrew Romano is a senior writer at Newsweek, where he reports on politics, culture, and food for the print and web editions of the magazine. Recent articles include a dispatch from Albuquerque on the making of Breaking Bad, an inside look at Obama’s 2012 reelection machine in Chicago, a psychological portrait of Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney, an essay on how the Tea Party misunderstands and misuses the Constitution, and a series of in-depth profiles of influential conservatives, including Bobby Jindal, Mark Sanford, Mitch Daniels, Chris Christie, Scott Brown, and John Boehner. From October 2007 to November 2008, Romano traveled with the 2008 presidential candidates and filed four or five items a day—reportage, analysis and humor—to “Stumper,” his Newsweek campaign blog, while continuing to write political stories for the weekly magazine. Thanks to Stumper, which won MINOnline’s Best Consumer Blog award and was cited as one of the cycle’s best news blogs by both Editor & Publisher and the Deadline Club of New York, Romano was Newsweek.com’s most-read author for 2008. A native of Medford, N.J., he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University in 2004 with an A.B. in English and a certificate in American Studies. He lives with his wife and cat in Brooklyn, N.Y.

SELECTED WORK 

Profiles: 

The Beach Boys’ Crazy Summer (Newsweek, May 27, 2012)

Susana Martinez: This Woman Can Beat Obama (Newsweek, May 14, 2012)

What Mitt is Missing (Newsweek cover, Sept. 25, 2011)

Jim Webb’s Last Crusade (Newsweek, Sept. 11, 2011)

Jon Tester: The Lone Wolf (Newsweek, May 1, 2011) 

Scott Brown: You Call This a Republican? (Newsweek, Feb. 2, 2011)

Chris Christie: The Professor and the Prosecutor (Newsweek, Nov. 29, 2010)

John Boehner: The Necessary Man (Newsweek, Sept. 19, 2010)

Mitch Daniels: Responsible Rider (Newsweek, Sept. 10, 2010)

Mark Sanford: The Last of the True Believers? (Newsweek, April 25, 2009)

Bobby Jindal: Their Own Obama (Newsweek, Dec. 13, 2008)

Al Franken: Getting to Know You (Newsweek, Sept. 17, 2007)

Essays:

The Electoral Math on Gay Marriage (Daily Beast, May 12, 2012)

On Maurice Sendak’s Biting Genius (Daily Beast, May 8, 2012)

Survivor, Republican-Style (Newsweek, Feb. 20, 2012)

Romney’s Reagan Democrat Problem (Newsweek, Feb. 20, 2012)

Why Mitt Romney Needs the GOP Primary to End (Daily Beast, Feb. 1, 2012)

Romney’s General Election Liabilities Laid Bare in GOP Debate (Daily Beast, Jan. 17, 2012)

The Ghostwriter: Hank Williams’s Lost Notebooks (GQ, Oct. 3, 2011)

Wanted: A New Messiah (Newsweek, Oct. 3, 2011)

No Jobs in Sight (Daily Beast, Sept. 12, 2011) 

Battle for Ground Zero (Newsweek, Aug. 7, 2011)

Who Was Barack Obama’s Father? (Newsweek, July 11, 2011)

Was John Lennon a Conservative? (Daily Beast, June 30, 2011)

The Upside of GOP Despair (Newsweek, May 29, 2011)

From Wimp to Winner (Newsweek, April 17, 2011)

How Dumb Are We? (Newsweek, March 20, 2011)

Could Chris Christie Really Beat Obama? (Daily Beast, March 3, 2011) 

GOP Schizophrenia: Bachmann vs. Ryan (Daily Beast, Jan. 22, 2011)

Obama’s GOP Soundalikes (Daily Beast, Jan. 12, 2011)

Lennon’s Other Legacy (Newsweek, Dec. 3, 2010)

Bush is Back (Newsweek, Nov. 2, 2010)

America’s Holy Writ (Newsweek, Oct. 17, 2010)

Men’s Lib (Newsweek [Cover], Sept. 20, 2010)

I Heart NJ (Newsweek, July 23, 2010)

What Would Reagan Really Do? (Newsweek, July 9, 2010)

Why I’m Saying “I Do” (Newsweek, June 11, 2010)

Even Reagan Wasn’t a Reagan Republican (Newsweek, May 10, 2010)

Why the Media Ignored the Nashville Flood (Newsweek, May 6, 2010)

If the Mitt Fits (Newsweek, April 16, 2010)

Unified Theory of Glenn Beck (Newsweek, April 13, 2010)

Is Obama Too Reasonable for His Own Good? (Newsweek, March 3, 2010)

Will Republicans Ever Appeal to Millennials? (Newsweek, Feb, 23, 2010)

How Obama Ruined the Stimulus (Newsweek, Feb. 17. 2010)

America, Inc.: The Pluses and Minuses of CEO Politicians (Newsweek, Feb. 12, 2010) 

Why Presidents Should Break Promises (Newsweek, Feb. 1, 2010)

Reality-Based Republicanism (Newsweek, Dec. 19, 2009)

The End of Selling Out (Newsweek, Dec. 10, 2009)

Is the “Wild Things” Move Too Scary for Kids? (Newsweek, Oct. 19, 2009)

The Case Against Reunion Tours (Newsweek, Sept. 22, 2009)

Wait a Second. Why Shouldn’t We Insure Illegals? (Newsweek, Sept. 14, 2009)

The Beatles Are Back. On CD. Again. Should We Really Give Them More of Our Money? (Newsweek, Sept. 7, 2009)

Bipartisanship is Bad (Newsweek, Aug. 15, 2009)

Instant Karma: The Polaroid Lives (Newsweek, July 17, 2009)

Save the NYC Slice (Newsweek, May 29, 2009)

Sexual Masters of the Universe (Newsweek, April 27, 2009)

Authentic Americana: Why Grandpa’s Clothes Are Suddenly Chic (Newsweek, Jan. 31, 2009)

Flight of the Conchords: The Perfect Show for Recession-Era NYC (Newsweek, Jan. 16, 2009)

In God They Trust (Newsweek cover, May 7, 2007; co-writer)

Reports: 

The Odd Alliance Changing the Way We Think About Crime (Newsweek, April 16, 2012)

How Obama Has Complicated Race Relations (Newsweek, April 9, 2012)

Why Debates Keep Upending the Race (Daily Beast, Feb. 22, 2012)

South Carolina 2012 Caucus Coverage (Daily Beast)

Iowa 2012 Caucus Coverage (Daily Beast)

Yes We Can! (Can’t We?) (Newsweek, Jan. 2, 2012)

Crashing the Party (Newsweek, Nov. 13, 2011)

Perry’s Entitlement Problem (Daily Beast, Aug. 12, 2011)

Mitt’s Iowa Schizophrenia (Daily Beast, Aug. 11, 2011)

The Most Dangerous Show on Television (Newsweek, June 26, 2011)

The Mormon Moment (Newsweek cover, June 5, 2011; co-writer)

Paul Ryan Barbecues His Backyard (Daily Beast, May 16, 2011)

Commander in Chief (Newsweek cover, May 5, 2011)

The GOP’s Tax-Hiking Hypocrites (Daily Beast, April 19, 2011)

2,405 Shot Dead Since Tucson (Newsweek, March 13, 2011)

Showdown: Ohio’s Union Battle Could Decide 2012 (Newsweek, Feb. 27, 2011)

The Myth of Obama’s Big Spending (Daily Beast, Feb. 8, 2011)

Palin Kills in Gun Country (Daily Beast, Jan. 30, 2011)

The Anatomy of One Democrat’s Loss (Newsweek, Nov. 3, 2010)

Tweet the Press (Newsweek, May 17, 2010)

Curb Your Enthusiasm (Newsweek, March 19, 2010)

Aliens Exist (Newsweek [cover], Aug. 15, 2009)

Black in the Age of Obama (Newsweek, April 18, 2009)

KogiBBQ: Now 4 Restaurant 2.0 (Newsweek, Feb. 28. 2009)

He’s One of Us Now (Newsweek, Feb. 9, 2008)

From Paintball to Iraq (Newsweek, March 19, 2007)

Betting the House (and Senate) (Newsweek, Nov. 5, 2006)

Walking a New Beat (Newsweek, April 24, 2006) 

Interviews:

Rick Perry (Daily Beast, Aug. 12. 2011)

Cory Booker (Newsweek, Dec. 20, 2010)

Mitt Romney on Romneycare (Newsweek, April 19, 2010)

Maurice Sendak, Spike Jonze, and Dave Eggers (Newsweek, Oct. 9, 2009). Bonus material here. 

Paul McCartney (Newsweek, June 11, 2007)

Find the rest here. Also, early work!