Struckman’s Pick: Get the National Journal Online

By Robert Struckman, 9-02-08

By far the most comprehensive and insightful political convention coverage this year has come from the National Journal, usually considered a thorough but boring insider’s record of Beltway politics.

Now is the time to shine, though, for those reporters and editors who have been at the politics game long enough to know the ins and outs but still fresh enough to approach the coverage with energy and to do so broadly. OK. My point is this: If you’re interested in what it’s really like at the Republican National Convention this week—beyond the tabloid-driven revelations about Sen. John McCain’s running mate’s daughter—or if you want an honest account of what impact the news has made at the convention, go to the National Journal.

The fault of the National Journal is shared by almost all other media in the country, which is that its point of view is always at least one timezone away from the Mountain West. But if we want comprehensive news on a national event, that’s just something we have to put up with.

I returned on Friday from a long week covering the Democratic National Convention in Denver. In the dizzying amount of spoon-fed news and flimsy protests, of cable television pseudo-news and calculated soundbites, I thought the National Journal was far and away the best news source, pumping out well-reported stories at an incredible rate.

So… check out news and analysis on, among other things, how the convention security professionals are keeping an eye on Ron Paul supporters and how Republicans and Democrats are vying for rural voters.