Times-dispatch hosts popular political blogger

The chief correspondent for a fast-growing Washington D.C.-based website, politico.com, came back to his old stomping grounds to talk about his career since leaving the Richmond newspaper.

Mike Allen, who graduated from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., went on to work as a columnist at the Richmond Times-Dispatch and later the Washington Post, TIME Magazine and the New York Times. The event was hosted by the Virginia Pro chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists. Several members of the press and students from area universities were in attendance.

Allen began by personally introducing himself to every one of about 30 people in the audience and subsequently addressed the crowd as a whole.

“I can’t change a tire, I can’t change my oil, so I just became a journalist,” Allen said.

After briefly explaining his background and rise to popularity in the Web-media circuit, he went into animated detail explaining some of the issues of the day, especially the race for the presidency. He analyzed the Clinton campaign and staffers’ frustration with the media.

“MSNBC has become known to many as the ‘Obama News Network’… It’s almost like Clinton was born in Illinios, McCain in New York, and Obama in a manger.”

Politico.com launched in January 2007 and was the brainchild of two Washington Post political columnists who wanted a reliable forum for online news about Capitol Hill. The website continues to attract attention from various media outlets and covers congressional and lobbyist affairs while supporting an extensive network of threads for interested bloggers.

Allen was asked if he had any advice for young and upcoming reporters.

“Your story has to have a reason to exist. Whether it’s clicked on a website or e-mailed to a friend– if it doesn’t go beyond your eyes, there’s no sense in writing it.”