Introduction
David Bender is an American political activist and former host of the talk radio show Politically Direct on Air America Radio.
Political activism
Bender has been involved in U.S. politics since he was twelve years old, when he left the 7th grade to volunteer for Robert Kennedy's presidential campaign. Since then he has been involved with numerous activist groups, as well as working in the entertainment industry. In 1995 he was chosen by the late John F. Kennedy, Jr. to serve as the west coast contributing editor of George magazine, combining his experience in politics and entertainment. In 2003 he became a senior advisor to Howard Dean's presidential campaign.
Air America
Bender had a show called Politically Direct on Air America Radio, on which he would converse with political and media influentials such as Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Al Gore and Gore Vidal on progressive issues and the 2008 elections. Politically Direct briefly held a weekly time slot, after which Bender voluntarily ended the program in May 2007 to later join Air America's Ring of Fire as one of three co-hosts.
Bender joined The Rachel Maddow Show as a regular contributor and she dubbed him my political guru. in March 2008, as part of that show's expansion to three hours, Bender frequently guest-hosted the show as well.
On Sunday, June 21, 2009, he announced that Politically Direct was ending the following week. This was his own decision, as he subsequently announced that he was resuming his writing career.He left the door open for a return to broadcasting and Air America at some point in the future.
Writing Career
Bender co-authored a book with John Dingell, the longest serving member of the U.S. House of Representatives, called The Dean, which was published in the fall of 2018.