''Capital Gang'' is an American weekly political talk show on

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

which aired on Saturday evenings at 7 p.m. ET. The show debuted in the fall of 1988 and ran until CNN cancelled it in 2005. The original panel was

Pat Buchanan Patrick Joseph Buchanan ( ; born November 2, 1938) is an American paleoconservative author, political commentator, and politician. He was an assistant and special consultant to U.S. presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan. He ...

, Robert Novak, Al Hunt, and

Mark Shields Mark Stephen Shields (May 25, 1937 – June 18, 2022) was an American political columnist, advisor, and commentator. He worked in leadership positions for many Democratic candidates' electoral campaigns. Shields provided weekly political anal ...

Mona Charen Mona Charen Parker ( ; born February 25, 1957) is an American conservative columnist, journalist, and political commentator. She has written four books. Early life and education Charen was born in New York City and raised in Livingston, New Jer ...

and

Margaret Warner Margaret Garrard Warner (born February 12, 1950) is a former senior correspondent for '' The PBS NewsHour''. Before joining the ''NewsHour'' in 1993, she was a reporter for ''The Wall Street Journal'', '' The San Diego Union-Tribune'', the '' Co ...

joined the panel in 1992, when Buchanan left the show to run for president in 1992. In 1993, Warner left the program to join PBS and was replaced by Margaret Carlson, and Kate O'Beirne replaced Charen when she moved to ''Capital Gang Sunday'' in 1995. Typically four of the commentators were featured along with a prominent public official from either party. Buchanan, O'Beirne, Charen and Novak were the

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

panelists, while Shields, Hunt, Warner and Carlson were the liberal commentators. ''Capital Gang Sunday'' was hosted by James Glassman in the mid-1990s. It featured panelists

Juan Williams Juan Antonio Williams (born April 10, 1954) is a Panamanian-American journalist and political analyst for Fox News Channel. He writes for several newspapers, including ''The Washington Post'', ''The New York Times'', and ''The Wall Street Journ ...

Howard Fineman Howard David Fineman (November 17, 1948 – June 11, 2024) was an American journalist and television commentator. In a career that spanned nearly five decades, Fineman covered nine presidential campaigns as a reporter, writer, and analyst. For ...

, Ruth Conniff, James Warren, and

. The show did not feature any guests and was more cerebral than combative, in contrast to the Saturday version. In 1998, it was canceled, along with CNN's Sunday edition of ''

Crossfire A crossfire (also known as interlocking fire) is a military term for the siting of weapons (often automatic weapons such as assault rifles or sub-machine guns) so that their arcs of fire overlap. This tactic came to prominence in World War I. ...

''. In 2005, after overall declining ratings at the network, CNN attempted to shake up its programming by cancelling several of its politically oriented shows, including the ''Capital Gang'' and ''Crossfire''. The ''Capital Gang'' panelists appeared together again on NBC's ''

Meet the Press ''Meet the Press'' is a weekly American television Sunday morning talk show broadcast on NBC. It is the List of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running program on American television, though its format has changed since th ...

'' with

Tim Russert Timothy John Russert (May 7, 1950 – June 13, 2008) was an American television journalist and lawyer who appeared for more than 16 years as the longest-serving moderator of NBC's '' Meet the Press''. He was a senior vice president at NBC News a ...

on February 17, 2008. With the Democratic presidential nomination race still very much undecided, and the role of the

superdelegate In American politics, a superdelegate is a delegate to a presidential nominating convention who is seated automatically. In Democratic National Conventions, superdelegates—described in formal party rules as the party leaders and electe ...

s in question, Hunt, Carlson, Shields, Novak and O'Beirne gathered to discuss the issues.

References

External links

Video of the Capital Gang on ''Meet the Press''
CNN original programming 1988 American television series debuts 2005 American television series endings 1980s American television talk shows 1990s American television talk shows 2000s American television talk shows {{US-news-tv-prog-stub