(Image via Lori Lipsman of afamousartist.com)

When I started in Washington journalism at National Journal in 1997, we reporters were still getting press releases from Congress by fax. Reports from think tanks arrived in the mail; searching through lobbying disclosure documents required trips to either the Senate or an ornate building on New York Avenue; and Google was this nifty new search engine people were adopting to navigate the web on their Netscape browsers, instead of using Lycos or AltaVista.

A lot has changed over the past decade, thanks to a technological revolution that shows no signs of slowing down.

Readers of this blog know those changes intimately, and how exciting they have been. The movement from static websites to interactive ones. The growth of stand-alone online media outlets. The development of blogging technology. The rise of the political blogosphere. The maturation of that ‘sphere and differentiation into journalistic and activist wings. The incorporation of the new technologies into political campaigns. The long-awaited arrival of online video as a medium. And the transformation of the newspaper — and news cycle — in America.

In the last two years there’s been another exciting wave of online development, as some of America’s oldest publications have adopted and adapted to the blogging part of the technological revolution, leading to the birth of something I’ve come to think of as the mainstream blogosphere (the MSB).

The New York Times today has 51 blogs. The Washington Post has more than 100. The Atlantic has developed a stable of bloggers, drawing on writers from The Economist, The American Prospect, and National Journal‘s Hotline, as well as their existing staff. Time.com hired former Wonkette Ana Marie Cox and now is increasingly moving in the direction of web video; today’s hire of Salon‘s Mike Scherer, who has done a fun series of political videos over the past year using VideoDog, only underscores the point. Bloggingheads.tv has gone big-time, and is now sometimes featured on the homepage of The New York Times, as well as regularly on the Opinion page. Video magazine Slate V has debuted and quickly become an online success. And reporters like Dan Balz and Adam Nagourney are now blogging regularly, at The Trail and The Caucus, respectively.

All of this is a long way of introducing the fact that as of Monday, I’ll be leaving The Prospect and this blog behind, to join that MSB on its continuing technological journey, in a joint position for The Washington Post and WashingtonPost.com, a part of Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, as a national web politics editor/producer.

Writing and building this blog has taught me so much about online space, and been so much fun. Thank you all for reading. And stay in touch.

Via Andrew Sullivan:

There’s a lot worth thinking about in New York Times executive editor Bill Keller‘s Nov. 29 Hugo Young lecture, but this in particular caught my eye:

The New York Times has six correspondents assigned to Iraq, plus a rotating cast of photographers, plus Pentagon correspondents who regularly travel with the troops. We employ, in addition, about 80 brave Iraqis – many of them handpicked stringers based in towns that are no longer safe for westerners. Sustaining the Baghdad bureau costs several million dollars a year. We take extraordinary precautions to keep our people safe, but two of our Iraqi colleagues have been murdered in cold blood, almost certainly because they worked for an American organisation.

There are lots and lots of places you can go for opinions about the war, but there are few places, and fewer by the day, where you can go to find honest, on-the-scene reporting about what is happening. Here’s a statistic that should make your heart sink. When Saddam Hussein fell, there were more than 1,000 western reporters in Iraq. Today, at any given time, there are about 50.

The independent 527 group Democratic Courage today launched its first anti-Clinton attack ad:

The spot, which focuses on an early Hillary Clinton gaffe in which she said the idea of $5,000 per child baby bonds held some appeal (perhaps mistakenly thinking of the $500 per child bonds she had earlier supported), appears to be designed with more of a national than an Iowa audience in mind. (The issue of baby bonds is hardly at the top of the mind of Iowa voters, who cite the Iraq war, healthcare, and jobs and the economy as their top concerns.)

The Clinton campaign warned this morning: “Beware Video News Releases. A 527 group run by an Edwards supporter is planning a press conference this morning to announce a negative ad that it says it will air in Iowa. Only problem is that the group has NOT purchased a single second of air time there – not even on cable.”

And, indeed, a visit to Democratic Courage’s site shows the group using the online release of the video to fundraise for an eventual Iowa television buy. “Get This Ad on the Air!,” the group exhorts. “Your contribution of $25, $50, $100, or more will help put this ad on the air – and ensure that Iowans hear its message that Democrats – and Americans – can do much better.”

For its part, Barack Obama‘s campaign says he wants no part of such tactics. “These types of ads have no place in the race for the Democratic nomination. As Obama’s record shows, he believes all campaign activity should be above-board and accounted for,” Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement today. The Obama campaign’s release on this topic also pointed to his earlier comments opposing such independent expenditure groups. “We do not think people should be donating to 527s,” he said last summer.

–Crossposted from Tapped.

Joe Biden should win some kind of prize for the most outlandish, if taken literally, campaign promise of the season. His campaign this afternoon sent out an e-mail with the subject line: “I will eat Rudy Giuliani alive at a debate.”

If that doesn’t grab your attention, nothing will.

From the fundraising appeal:

I can’t wait to debate Rudy Giuliani.

Over the weekend, Rudy Giuliani attacked the Biden plan for a political solution in Iraq, “They’re saying, ‘We will divide the country.’ (The Iraqi government) has to decide to divide the country. We’re trying to create stability over there.”

I will eat Rudy Giuliani alive at a debate. Click here to contribute $25, $35, $50 or more to the campaign right now.

The former mayor never misses an opportunity to display how little he knows about foreign policy. My plan is to give regions in Iraq more control over their daily lives. It’s a way for states to share power with a central government and achieve a political solution to the chaos there and it was endorsed by a bipartisan majority of 75 Senators, both Republican and Democrat. We’ve already seen it play out — where local authorities have been given more control over their affairs, violence has gone down. Meanwhile, the Bush administration’s attempt to create a strong central government is still not working — for all the headlines the surge has created, we’re no closer to a political solution in Baghdad than we were when the surge began months ago.

Folks, we’ve seen how dangerous it is to elect a president who doesn’t understand how the world works. The last thing we need in the White House is four years of George W. Giuliani, or George W. Romney. Notice we haven’t heard a word about their plans to reach a political solution in Iraq.

I promise you, when I am the Democratic nominee next year, I will eat them alive at the debates.

To call that raring to go would be an understatement.

–Crossposted from Tapped.

Iowa Congressman Bruce Braley has endorsed John Edwards, making him the first of Iowa’s three Democratic representatives to enter the presidential endorsement fray, reports The New York Times.

Though Braley was courted by the other candidates at fundraisers this November, I’m not sure his Edwards endorsement is that much of a surprise or coup, as Braley was a Precinct Coordinator for John Edwards for President in 2004 and is also the past president of the Iowa Trial Lawyers Association. It would have been a bigger deal if he’d switched his preference and endorsed someone else this time around.

Still, it is impressive how Edwards has been able to retain support in the Hawkeye State, and keep the people who were with him last time he ran for president from defecting to his new, better-financed rivals. Edwards’ trip to Iowa to campaign on behalf of and help raise funds for Braley during his 2006 congressional bid surely helped cement Braley’s loyalties. And Braley has returned the favor before now, by, for example, introducing Elizabeth Edwards at an April 2007 Edwards campaign event in Davenport. Such introductions are generally only done by supporters. With this endorsement, Braley has proved he is a consistent one.