John Frank is a staff writer for the St. Petersburg Times based in Brooksville. He covers state courts, politics and the 2008 presidential election for PolitiFact.com. Before joining the Times in 2006, he served as the lead political reporter for the (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier, writing award-winning pieces from the state capital bureau. Previously, he covered national politics for the Houston Chronicle's Washington, D.C., bureau and worked at newspapers in North Carolina and Virginia.

Born in Michigan, he grew up in Woodbridge, Va., and earned a journalism degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Phone: (352) 754-6114

E-mail: jfrank@sptimes.com