Dan Balz

Are the editors and agents who said it would be impossible to write or publish a worthwhile postgame recap of the 2008 election having second thoughts now that the race has turned out to be so much fun?

Michael Takiff, an oral historian preparing to go out with a proposal for precisely that kind of book, hopes they are.

His literary agent, young up-and-comer Jason Ashlock of the Marianne Strong Agency, describes Mr. Takiff’s book as a spiritual heir to the late Theodore White’s classic, The Making of the President, a novelistic ticktock that gave readers an inside look at the presidential race of 1960 and offered a level of detail that daily reporters didn’t have room for in their copy.  read more »

In today's paper, we talk to a whole band of reporters and editors who tell us that conventions have always been tough to cover, but this convention this year--where there's a Google Big Tent, a Huffington Post Oasis, a campaign that prefers text messages to reporters, a demand for more web items, web videos and web-only items--is far worse!

One person we couldn't get into the story due to deadline was legendary Postie Dan Balz and he couldn't agree more.

"There's little news to be had [at the convention]," he said. "I think the 24-7 news cycle that we're in means people get little tidbits and throw that those up on their web sites. They're news nuggets, but they're not news. It's treated like real news, but in reality it's not--they're small bites, and not a big deal. There are so many reporters that it's challenging to even get the little stuff."

Last night, at a Politico party at the bar Mynt on Market Street in Denver, the Washington Post's new editor Marcus Brauchli stood off to the side of the bar with a bourbon-rocks in hand.

"I haven't really started yet, so I'm not ready to talk," he said.

But here is what we can tell you: He had The New York Times under his arm, which he hadn't yet read; he wasn't aware that the Times had eliminated its Newark bureau; he just moved down to Washington a week ago; Politico founder Jim VandeHei got him into the party; he chatted with longtime Post legend Dan Balz.

He starts his new job on Sept. 8.