WP Seeks Ideas, Clue
From the official announcement of Chris Cillizza's hire as "politics blogger" ("Announcement: Politics Blogger Hired"):
[T] he plan is to create a feature that no political professional, politics junkie or average Post/post.com reader can live without.
As opposed to, say, the Post? We kid. We heart the Post's political coverage -- which is why we're very worried about them getting into this "blogging" business. Don't bloggers get things wrong? Oh, and btw:
One thing we need is a name for it. If you've got an idea and we ultimately pick it, I'll buy you a six-pack of your favorite beverage (sorry, no iPod handouts).
Bummer about the iPods, but we'll just suggest something away: Just don't call it a blog.
Full email after the jump.
From: Russ Walker
Organization: washingtonpost.com
Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 11:05:00 -0400
To: WPNI - Everyone
Subject: Announcement: Politics Blogger Hired
Hello everyone,
I'm pleased to announce that washingtonpost.com has hired a full-time
political blogger. Chris Cillizza, a 4-year veteran of Roll Call, will
join us starting Sept. 12. Chris will work from both our newsroom and
The Washington Post, and the plan is to create a feature that no
political professional, politics junkie or average Post/post.com reader
can live without. He's very excited by the opportunity and committed to
embracing the unique opportunities that a blog offers.
Chris will work for washingtonpost.com, and washingtonpost.com editors
will approve his copy for the Web site. However, The Post's national
and political teams have agreed to collaborate with Chris, sharing tips
that might be better blog items than full Post stories (and vice versa)
and joining us in thinking strategically about how to cover the 2006
mid-term elections in print and online. Post editors John Harris, Liz
Spayd and Mike Abramowitz are strong supporters of our new blog.
Chris's daily postings will complement well the deep reporting from the
paper, Terry Neal's Talking Points online column and our new Opinions
section.
We're still thinking through the blog specifics, so stay tuned. One
thing we need is a name for it. If you've got an idea and we ultimately
pick it, I'll buy you a six-pack of your favorite beverage (sorry, no
iPod handouts).
Watch for Chris in the newsroom soon.
-- Russ W.
Some background on Chris:
At Roll Call Chris Cillizza covered campaign politics from the
presidential to the congressional level. Prior to joining the Capitol
Hill newspaper in June 2001, Chris covered governor's races and southern
House races under the tutelage of political analyst Charlie Cook at the
Cook Political Report. His work has appeared in a variety of
publications including Atlantic Monthly, Washingtonian, Washington
Monthly and Slate. He has also been a guest on CNN, Fox News Channel and
MSNBC.
Chris graduated from Georgetown University in 1998. He married to the
former Gia Fenoglio, the head coach of Catholic University's field
hockey team (Go Cardinals!).