Michael Andrew Smerconish ( ; born March 15, 1962) is an American radio host and television presenter, political commentator, newspaper columnist, author, and lawyer. He broadcasts The Michael Smerconish Program weekdays at 9:00 a.m. ET on SiriusXM's POTUS Channel (124), and hosts the CNN and CNN International program Smerconish at 9:00 a.m. ET on Saturdays. He is a Sunday newspaper columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Smerconish has written seven books: six non-fiction works and one novel. He is also of counsel to the Philadelphia law firm of Kline & Specter. Early life and education Smerconish was born in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, the son of Florence (née Grovich) and Walter Smerconish. His family hails from Galicia in Eastern Europe, Montenegro, and Italy. He graduated from Central Bucks High School West, a public high school in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. He received his B.A. from Lehigh University and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He has been awarded several honorary degrees: a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Widener University on May 26, 2016, a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Delaware Valley College on May 19, 2018, and a Doctor of Science degree from University of the Sciences on May 20, 2020. Politics Smerconish was raised in a Republican household, and while in his early teens, Smerconish began to correspond with the then Democratic Mayor of Philadelphia, Frank L. Rizzo. Eventually the two would meet and establish a close relationship. But Smerconish's start in politics came in the spring of 1980 when his father competed unsuccessfully in a Republican primary for the Pennsylvania state legislature. Smerconish worked tirelessly in his father's campaign during his own senior year in high school, during which he registered to vote for the first time. Despite his father's election loss, Smerconish was smitten with GOP politics, having met both Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush during the build-up to the Pennsylvania Primary. In 1980, Smerconish founded Lehigh University Youth for Reagan/Bush. While a full-time student at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, he ran for the Pennsylvania state legislature, losing the Republican Primary by 419 votes. After losing his primary, Smerconish continued at Penn Law, while working nearly full-time running political campaigns. In 1986, he was responsible for the City of Philadelphia in Senator Arlen Specter's re-election win, and in 1987, Smerconish served as Rizzo's Political Director in Rizzo's losing (Republican) bid to