Steve Benen
Steve Benen (born May 15, 1973) is an American political writer and blogger, an MSNBC contributor, and a producer for The Rachel Maddow Show.
From August 2008 to January 2012, Benen was the lead blogger for the Washington Monthly's "Political Animal" blog.[1]. He was also the publisher of The Carpetbagger Report, which was a staple of the American political blogosphere for five years[citation needed].
Benen's articles and op-eds have appeared in a variety of publications, including the Washington Monthly, The American Prospect, The Huffington Post, and the New York Daily News.
He has been a guest on several programs, including NPR’s Talk of the Nation,[2] MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC’s The Ed Show, Current TV's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Air America Radio’s The Sam Seder Show, and XM Radio’s POTUS ‘08. In addition to The Carpetbagger Report, Steve is the former lead editor of Salon.com's Blog Report, and has been a contributor to Talking Points Memo, Crooks and Liars, The Guardian, AlterNet, Political Wire, and Seven Days (newspaper).
In July 2009, The Atlantic named Benen one of the top 50 most influential political commentators in the United States.[3]
Benen was born and raised in Miami, Florida, and received his B.A. in Political Science from Florida International University. He received a Master's degree in Political Management from the George Washington University, and was an intern in Bill Clinton's White House Office of Speechwriting. In 1996, he was the communications director for an unsuccessful Democratic congressional campaign in Pennsylvania. From 1997 to 2002, Benen worked in the communications department at Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.
"Digital Pamphleteer," a short film about Benen's work as a blogger, was created by Bill Simmon [4] and won an award at the Vermont International Film Festival.[5] in 2008.
