David Sirota

DAVID SIROTA is a journalist, nationally syndicated weekly newspaper columnist, award-winning radio host and bestselling author living in Denver, Colorado. As one of the only national columnists living and reporting outside of Washington, D.C., he reports on politics and pop culture, with a special focus on economic issues. He blogs at OpenLeft.com and is currently working on his third book - this one about the intersection of politics and movies, television, video games and toys.

In reviews of his work, the New York Times called Sirota a “populist rabble-rouser” with a “take-no-prisoners mind-set,” while the Philadelphia Daily News labeled him “a progressive powerhouse.” His weekly column is based at the Denver Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Portland Oregonian and Seattle Times, and now appears in newspapers with a combined daily circulation of more than 1.6 million readers. In 2008 and 2009, Sirota was named best columnist by 5280 magazine - the largest general-interest magazine in the Rocky Mountain West and one of the nation’s largest circulation regional publications. In its inaugural listing of national journalists, Mediaite.com ranked Sirota as one of the top 100 most influential columnists in America. In 2010, Sirota’s radio show on KKZN-AM760 in Colorado was named Readers’ Choice for best radio program by Westword and Editors’ Choice for best program by 5280 magazine.

Sirota, whose two books (Hostile Takeover and The Uprising) were both New York Times bestsellers, has contributed to The New York Times Magazine and The Nation and hosts the morning talk show on Denver’s Clear Channel affiliate, KKZN-AM760. He is a senior editor at In These Times magazine and Huffington Post contributor, and appears periodically on CNN, Comedy Central’s Colbert Report, Fox News, and National Public Radio (see some of his archived television appearances here). His writing has won praise from across the political spectrum. The liberal American Prospect said Sirota is “the kind of pundit you’d like to have on your side in a knife fight and wouldn’t want to cross in a dark alley.” Syndicated columnist Molly Ivins said, “Sirota is a new-generation populist who instinctively understands that the only real questions are ‘Who’s getting screwed?’ and ‘Who’s doing the screwing?’”

Before becoming a full-time journalist, Sirota was a Democratic political strategist serving as a senior campaign aide to Gov. Brian Schweitzer, Montana’s first Democratic governor in 16 years; a campaign adviser Connecticut’s antiwar icon Ned Lamont, who defeated Sen. Joe Lieberman in the 2006 Democratic primary; the chief spokesman for Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee; the press secretary for Vermont Congressman Bernard Sanders, the longest-serving independent in congressional history.

Sirota received a degree in journalism and political science from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. After graduating in 1998, he lived for five years in Washington, D.C., and then for two and a half years in Helena, Mont., before moving to Denver in 2007 with his wife, Emily, and his dog, Monty.

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Who Is David Sirota?