AP Language ignment: Editorial Columns?

I have an AP ignment to select one political/editorial columnist who appears weekly in a newspaper or news magazine. I was suggested to look at the OP Ed page of The NY Times or Newsday or in Time or Newsweek magazines. (Examples are Maureen Dowd from the Times and Anna Quindlen from Newsweek.) I can not do Anna, whose articles I found very interesting, because she has stopped writing since May. I would like an interesting columnist who doesn't speak only about politics. I liked how Anna spoke about the oral abortion pill and other interesting things other then the government but I'm not sure if it's within the guidelines. I don't really know what a political/editorial columnist is, or who they are! Please help me! Thanks.