A governor, a podcast and a presidential race years away: Q&A with reporter Lucas Aulbach
Beshear has repeatedly hinted he's considering running for president in 2028 (with the caveat that last time we checked, that election is more than three years away). Steps the governor has taken to build a bigger national profile are at the center of our latest Blueprint cover story.
Louisville native Lucas Aulbach has spent plenty of time in Frankfort since joining The Courier Journal in 2016 and recently shifted roles to become a full-time member of the politics team. His email address is laulbach@courier-journal.com — reach out any time with tips, feedback or other thoughts.
In the meantime, here's a closer look at how the Blueprint came together.
The easiest answer is "Gov. Beshear started a podcast."
That was the first domino, and my colleague Killian Baarlaer wrote a quick story on it while I was out helping with flooding coverage. I came back later that week and talked a bit with news director Rob Byers about writing a longer story about it — after Beshear's name was mentioned last year as a potential vice presidential candidate and as he's become a more common presence on 24-hour news networks and on the political rally circuit, I thought the podcast announcement could be a good starting point for a lengthier piece about how his national profile is growing.
I'd love to say I went into Watergate mode and took on a monumental undertaking in political journalism. I'll take all the credit you want to give me, don't let me stop you.
But truth be told, with this one, sometimes I did the reporting, and sometimes the reporting came to me.
I sought out some experts in the world of political talking heads, as I wanted some voices from outside Kentucky and perspectives from people who understand media. I reached out to a few media conglomerates that publish bigger political podcasts, and Crooked Media's Shaniqua McClendon was kind enough to spend 30 or so minutes on the phone with me one Friday afternoon.
As the scope of the story expanded, I tried to talk to people outside of Kentucky who have been following Beshear and have listened to him speak to gain perspective on the impression the governor is making outside the state and where he stands among the ever-growing list of potential 2028 candidates. To that end, I was lucky to get in touch with Scott Brennan, who called me while he was out on a Friday afternoon walk in Iowa.
One morning back in April, I caught Beshear on the phone for about 15 minutes to talk about the podcast and his national profile. And in the meantime, he was kind enough to keep making headlines that were relevant to our coverage — in separate interviews in early May, he said he may consider running for president in 2028, and podcast episodes and other interviews he took part in gave me more notes and quotes to work with, along with pushback from Kentucky Republicans.
We hit on this point toward the end of the piece — Beshear and other potential 2028 presidential candidates may not have announced they're in the race yet, but campaigning has already started. We have a long few years ahead.
Reach Lucas Aulbach at laulbach@courier-journal.com.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: How we reported on Gov. Andy Beshear's growing national profile
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