John Avlon is the Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director of  The Daily Beast. Avlon is a CNN analyst and the author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics, Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America and Washington’s Farewell:The Founding Father’s Warning to Future Generations as well as editor of the anthology Deadline Artists: America’s Greatest Newspaper Columns. Previously, he was a columnist and associate editor for the New York Sun and chief speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. He won the National Society of Newspaper Columnists’ award for best online column in 2012.