White House Correspondents Insider

Behind the scenes of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

White House Correspondents Weekend Parties Start To Roll Out

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Kerry Washington and Hilary Rosen

The annual land-grab for talent and venues has officially, or at least publicly, begun for the 2013 White House Correspondents Dinner Weekend. Yeas and Nays found out that on April 25 that Marie Claire will host their first party in the 99 years of the Correspondents Dinner. Indeed there’s a certain type of magic to be found during the WHCD Weekend. Where else can you find, like last year, Kerry Washington and Hilary Rosenside-by-side on a Grin-and-Grip?

The where, when and how are TBD even by party co-hosts Meredith Fineman and Jessica Hoy. Hoy, however, talks up a few more potential parties at her entry on Examiner–no relation to the Yeas and Nays’ own Washington Examiner–when it comes to break-ups and strange sponsor bedfellows:

  • Time and People will be back at the St. Regis, despite recent news that Time titles into publicly traded companies.
  • The Atlantic ditched Funny or Die for Our Time as a co-partner and chose Jessica Alba and Warren Cash as their co-hosts. Hopefully they’ll be doing it for free since The Atlantic doesn’t have the funds to pay anyone these days.
  • Bloomberg/Vanity Fair, Capitol File, Google, Allbritton and Washingtonian all are going to do something Saturday or Sunday. This news is as shocking as the Metro being broken down or Conan O’Brien being tall.

    And that’s it. Invitations are still secretly being rolled out as Washington media elites struggle to keep their guest wants out of prying eyes. We’ll wait and see what other parties or confirmed info happens to come out now that we’re just about 46 days away from the “nerd prom” that’s become popular with the Outer Beltway folks not used to the magic of the Hinckley Hilton.

    • Veteran Political Reporter Marc Ambinder Joins National Journal WH Team

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    Marc Ambinder, The Atlantic’s Political Editor (right, seated), blogs CNN’s John King in conversation with political strategists Steve Schmidt and Robert Shrum 10.02.2009
    Photo: Atlantic.Live

    The “T” Team – Todd and Tapper – should consider themselves warned (that’s NBC’s Chuck Todd and ABC’s Jake Tapper). Marc Ambinder has lots of sources and long-time relationships in politics; he’s a must-read political blogger for TheAtlantic.com, curates their Politics channel, and is the chief political consultant to CBS News. Ambinder is also half of the new “A” team recruited to help cover the White House for the National Journal Group.

    NJ tripled its White House Team with the addition of Ambinder and Aamer Madhani, currently a correspondent with USA Today. They will be joining staff writer George Condon, Jr., who covers the White House for CongressDaily when the National Journal newsroom is unified this fall.

    “The New ‘A’-Team—Ambinder and Aamer—is going to be formidable,” said National Journal Editor-in-Chief Ron Fournier. “They are smart, savvy and richly sourced in foreign policy, domestic issues and politics. They have an extraordinary combination of skills that will give National Journal Group readers deep, dependable coverage of the Obama administration.”

    When putting those skills to use, Ambinder says his ultimate goal is to “find out what I can find out and pull back the curtains as much as possible.”

    Ambinder was also a founding editor of Hotline’s path-breaking news blog, Hotline On Call and one of the founders of ABC’s The Note. He will continue with The Atlantic through the November elections and join National Journal Group immediately thereafter.

    Madhani covers foreign affairs for USA TODAY out of Washington, DC after joining the paper in December 2008 as the Baghdad Bureau Chief. He has also worked with the Chicago Tribune. Madhani will begin his work with National Journal next month.