WASHINGTON — Longtime political commentator and Washington insider Bob Beckel died Monday at the age of 73, according to multiple reports.
Early in his career, Beckel worked as the youngest deputy assistant secretary of state for Jimmy Carter and ran Walter Mondale's failed presidential campaign in 1984.
For 10 years, Beckel and conservative commentator Cal Thomas wrote a column together for USA TODAY called "Common Ground" and published a book by that title.
"We have done our best, but politicians apparently are content with gridlock," Beckel wrote in his signoff column.
Thomas paid tribute to Beckel on Monday, calling him “my friend and spiritual brother.”
Sean Hannity also announced Beckel's death Monday, saying "he and I got along great" despite their political differences, noting that his own children called him "Uncle Bob."
Beckel, a lifelong Democrat, moved to cable news in the 1990s as a co-host of CNN's "Crossfire Sunday" program. He joined Fox News as a contributor in 2000 and was a founding panelist on the early evening talk program "The Five" when it debuted in 2011. Beckel was the liberal voice on the show before leaving the show in 2015 to go to rehab. He returned again in 2017 for a few months before being fired over "insensitive comments to a Black employee," according to a Fox News statement.
Beckel spoke openly about his struggles with addiction in his memoir, "I Should Be Dead: My Life Surviving Politics, TV, and Addiction."
Beckel leaves behind two children he had with his ex-wife, Leland Ingham.
Beckel's cause of death has not been disclosed.
Beckel also provided political analysis for WUSA9 over the years.
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