Iowa has some great political analysts, and Laura is top tier. Her Bleeding Heartland blog has some of the best political analyses and commentary on Iowa and the national scene to be found anywhere. Her writing and analysis is interesting and thought-provoking for sure, but it’s so much more. Show me a journalist/media type or academic researcher who regularly digs deeper into the data and comes up with so many interesting and valuable conclusions and I’ll by the beer. And dinner.
Don’t just take my word for it.
“Des Moines Cityview's "Civic Skinny" called Belin "probably the hardest-working — and perhaps the best — political reporter in the state" and "one of the best investigative reporters in the state." The Fix at the Washington Post named Belin as one of Iowa's outstanding political reporters in 2020 and previously named Bleeding Heartland among the "best state-based political blogs.” Politico put Belin on its list of "early state must-follows." Charles Pierce of Esquire has called Bleeding Heartland an "essential Iowa political blog.”
Laura also provides a platform for other powerful thinkers and writers to share their wisdom. You know how important this is in a time when other media are toppling like dominoes, with a great many in financial trouble and others are cutting their opinion pages. It’s also a time when the largest media company in the world feeds the public lies, misinformation, and endless red herrings, 24/7/365. In this environment America needs more public intellectuals, not fewer. Laura gives them an important and well-deserved platform, and we all should be grateful, encouraged, and informed.
Laura and I had an interesting conversation yesterday, and I have uploaded the audio below. We began our conversation with a brief discussion of her personal story, and the origins of Bleeding Heartland. We then turned our discussion to a recent piece she wrote about challenges Democrats face with voter registration and turnout. Other topics included polling, the job media are doing reporting on the midterms, and the impact of the Supreme Court’s overturning Roe vs Wade on polling. Given Laura’s background, I also asked her about Putin’s war on Ukraine. But finally, she shared what she thought was an important topic that hasn’t received enough media attention. Take a listen.
If you like this conversation, and I hope you do, Laura is willing to continue it, and I hope we can do it regularly. I certainly learned a lot during our discussion, and am grateful for her time. Let us know what you think in your comments.
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Enjoy. More importantly, learn. And share.