Joe Gandelman

Joe Gandelman spent many years as a freelance writer overseas and full-time reporter on the staffs of two newspapers — and as a professional ventriloquist. He is Editor-In-Chief of www.themoderatevoice.com, one of the Internet's biggest and fastest growing moderate weblogs. CNN's John Avlon named him as one of the Top 25 Centrist Columnists and Commentators.

Gandelman interned on The Hindustan Times in New Delhi, and wrote for various newspapers including the Chicago Daily News he Christian Science Monitor from New Delhi, India, Madrid, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress. His work also appeared on National Public Radio's All Things Considered, and in the Argus South African Newspapers, Baltimore Sun, Miami Herald, Winnipeg (Canada) Free Press , Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), Aftenposten (Norway), and Haartez (Israel), among others.

He was also a staff reporter on Knight-Ridder's Wichita Eagle-Beaon and later on the San Diego Union, where his beats included Ronald Reagan's amnesty program, Tijuana, Baja California and other topics. Gandelman received a B.A in Political Science from Colgate University and a Masters in Journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.

In 1990 left the newspaper world to become a full time ventriloquist. His ventriloquism site is www.familiyentertainer.com . He performs at fairs, festivals, schools and corporate events across the country and is included in the nationally distributed The Great Ventriloquists trading cards and was seen on NBC TV's show "Spy TV" and on Margaret Cho's VHI reality show "The Cho Show."

In his role as a writer, blogger and commenator, in 2004 he appeared on MSNBC and has appeared often as a pundit on an independent voter analyst panel on CNN.