Margaret Carlson is a senior political writer at Time magazine. She began her career as a legal assistant in several different positions in the Carter Administration, working for the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, then in the President's Office of Consumer Affairs and then as special assistant to the Chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. In 1981, Ms. Carlson went to work for the Legal Times and became editor of the Legal Times of Washington in 1982. She then left to become a stringer for several publications, including the Economist, Esquire and contributed to the New Republic. In 1984, Ms. Carlson began working at The Washington Weekly, where she became features editor and then editor. She left The Washington Weekly to become Washington Bureau Chief of Esquire. In 1986 and 1987, Ms. Carlson was a contributor to the New Republic and served as acting managing editor. In December 1987, she moved to Time as a senior political writer to cover the 1988 campaign.