Charles Edward Cook Jr. (born Shreveport, Louisiana November 20, 1953) is an American political analyst who specializes in election forecasts and political trends. Cook writes election forecasts and rankings in his own publication, The Cook Political Report, and in other media. He is a political analyst for the National Journal and since 1994 with NBC. Cook writes two columns for National Journal, "The Cook Report" for the main publication and "Off to the Races" for the online National Journal Congress Daily. Since the 1984 US presidential election, Cook has provided election night commentary for various television networks.