Drake began his career with the New York Daily News, spending most of that time in Washington covering Congress, national politics and the Reagan White House. He joined National Public Radio in 1991 as Senior Washington Editor and then went on to be Managing Editor for seven years and Vice President of News for five years. He was hired by Congressional Quarterly in 2007 to create the free content website, CQ Politics, and also served CQ before he left as Executive Editor for news.