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The Democratic Strategist

Political Strategy for a Permanent Democratic Majority

Ezra Klein’s New Gig

One of the enduring discussion-points in the ongoing debate over Old and New Media is the online convergence of both in the web versions of major newspapers. That’s why it’s interesting that today one of the earliest Major Progressive Bloggers, who has also done a lot to foster discussion among MSM journalists, bloggers, and policy wonks, made his debut with the online version of the Washington Post.
That would be Ezra Klein, who at the ripe old age of 25 has achieved what many professional journalists aspire for fruitlessly though entire careers: a bylined perch at WaPo.
Ezra’s new WaPo blog is here, and he will reportedly be making appearances on the op-ed page as well.
For those who are not familiar with Ezra’s work, he’s among the wonkiest of bloggers, with particular expertise in health care policy and everything related to food. While he’s a partisan and not at all immune to the blogospheric tendency to suspect “moderation,” he’s also relentlessly civil, and not afraid to apologize or reverse himself on the rare occasions when he’s shown to be wrong.
I have to admit that I have a personal affection for Ezra that dates back to the Netroots Nation conference in Chicago in 2007, when he went to the trouble of escorting me through several sessions where my long association with the DLC might have gotten me seriously dissed (Joan McCarter of DailyKos did so as well). Ezra also included me in the now-famous JournoList, that much-misunderstood water cooler of the progressive center.
But you don’t need to know Ezra Klein to understand that the man can think and write impressively well, on deadline, and with all due preparation for reader comment and adverse reactions. He’s the perfect “convergence” figure between the blogosphere and the MSM, and his fate at WaPo may tell us a lot about the fate of this convergence generally.
And hey, if Ezra’s new gig doesn’t do that well, it’s quite a while before he’s even pushing thirty.

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