The Final Four

Not Kerry/Edwards and Cheney/Bush, but the best press hacks on the campaign trail, according to New York Press's third round of Wimblehack 2004. There's even a gratuitous (and safe for work) picture of Lena Olin (long story--check out the link).

Anyway, I was 50/50 on picking the final four, selecting Elizabeth Bumiller and James Bennet to move on--well, to be fair, I gave an explicit nod to Bumiller, and strongly implied Bennet would make it based on the draw (Bennet was matched with Gorm Voelver of Politiken, the Danish source for Campaign USA 2004). Alas, I thought sure Cal Thomas would come through, but Karen Tumulty obliterated him--you've really got to check the article for the full story. And in the bracket I stayed away from, Howard Fineman scored a decisive victory over Jill Zuckerman, setting up a Time/Newsweek death match in the semis. The New York Times (described as akin to Spanish clay court specialists at Roland Garros in the initial article) finds itself in a zero-sum game in the other bracket.

So--who advances? Um, Lena Olin. No, that's a DIFFERENT contest. This is for media hack/whore/shill of the 2004 season--the gold medalist of hackdom. Only once every four years do we get a chance to see them stoop THIS low (off-year elections are sort of like the Winter Olympics in this particular metaphor).

Damn, this is difficult...but I'll have to go with Bumiller over Bennet, and, based on her extraordinary effort (like I said, the article is worth reading), Tumulty over Fineman. We'll see what New York Press decides.

Finally, here's one of the passages that caught my eye. You'll have to guess as to the other:

ANY YOUNG JOURNALIST working the campaign trail for the first time will quickly learn how to spot the New York Times reporter on the plane. Unfailingly, the Times guy is the one sitting in the pole position at the front aisle seat just behind the candidate and his entourage, and in crowds he's the one with the four-foot rod up his ass who pushes everybody out of the way to get to the front because he's the New York Times, goddamnit.