I think any advocate who is effective has fully acquainted himself or herself with the legislator they are going to meet. Know what committees they are on, what issues they are interested in, all in an effort to build a bridge for communicating with them.

Personal life
Mark Shields is married to Anne Hudson Shields who is a lawyer and former civil service official at the United States Department of the Interior. For 17 years Shields was moderator and panelist on CNN's Capital Gang. He began writing a column the same year that is now distributed nationally by Creators Syndicate.

Previous counterparts were the late William Safire Paul Gigot of the Wall Street Journal and David Gergen. Shields is also a regular panelist on Inside Washington a weekly public affairs show that is seen on both PBS and ABC.