Mississippi resident plays key role in national health care debate

It's not uncommon for Congress to receive petitions from political activists, but earlier this month Congress heard from more than 1.3 million people as a result of a campaign that fused talk radio with the Internet - and it all started with one man in Oxford, Mississippi.

The remarkable response, which featured a unique fusion of mass
mediums, started back in late May of 2009. Oxford's Lee Habeeb hatched the idea of the FreeOurHealthCareNow.com petition with one of Salem's sponsors, The National Center for Policy Analysis, a prominent free market think tank.

Habeeb, who is also the Vice President of Content at radio and internet powerhouse Salem Communications, helped craft the biggest policy petition in US history with more than 1.3 million signatures delivered to House and Senate Minority leaders on September 9, 2009. Fox News, CNN, CSPAN covered the event live, coverage which can be seen on the organization's Web site (http://www.ncpa.org).

"The way that President Obama and Congress approached this debate was simple," Habeeb said. "They wanted those opposed to an increased role by government in America's health care system to agree, or get out of the way. The more our audience learned, the more concerned they became, and that was reflected in the petition, the outpouring at Town Halls across America, and in President Obama's slumping poll numbers."

Habeeb oversees some of America's most influential conservative talk radio hosts, including Bill Bennett, Michael Medved, and Mike Gallagher. Salem also owns one of America's most influential conservative political web sites, www.TownHall.com.

A New Jersey native, he started his career in radio in 2001 launching The Laura Ingraham Show, which quickly became one of the most popular talk shows in the country. Habeeb and Ingraham were classmates at the University of Virginia School of Law, where Habeeb says his taste for small town southern country living was developed.

"Oxford is always a place I had wanted to live," Habeeb explained. "When my wife Valerie gave birth to our daughter Reagan, the die was cast. It became clear I could do my job as well via remote than I could in Washington DC, so we packed our bags."
Digital technology, high speed internet, and great research tools allowed Habeeb to leave the big media market.

"My job is to create material that connects with Americans where they live," added Habeeb, whose job includes providing content for Salem's national shows, searching for the best authors, experts, and stories that can help bolster ratings and revenue for his network. "I think I do my job better because I live in a part of America most media types don't."

He is on the phone three to four hours a day with his Washington D.C. sources, from staffers on Capitol Hill to fellow UVa. Law classmates like Vince Haley, who co-wrote Newt Gingrich's last book, and is VP of Communications for Gingrich's American Solutions.

"Lee is about as good as you can be at providing insightful takes on the daily news, and he is better at converting complicated policy into stories that move people," Haley said.

Habeeb's job brings him in contact with top conservative authors, economists, policy types and politicians, and he worked at The Heritage Foundation for three years while he lived in Washington DC. He has written columns for The Star Ledger in New Jersey, as well as USA Today and the National Review.

"So many people like Tom Brokaw constantly lament the death of news in America," Habeeb said. "I have a very different view on the matter, and think we have just begun an exciting way of creating, delivering, and digesting news, and I'd love to share those insights with the students at the University of Mississippi."

But what excites Habeeb more than politics is his newfound religious faith.

"I was just baptized," said Habeeb, who recently converted to the Christian faith. "I just hope I can walk the faith, and serve in the ways God has intended for me to serve."

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Co-Creator of The Laura Ingraham Show, was became the fastest nationally syndicated radio show in radio history to crack the Top 5. He is currently VP of Content, in charge of 5 of the top 25 shows in national radio, including shows hosted by Bill Bennett, Michael Medved, Mike Gallagher, Dennis Prager, and Janet Parshall. He is a University of Virginia School of Law graduate, and has written op-eds for USA Today, The Star Ledger, and The National Review.