Politicorn on the cob

Today we welcomed another home-grown hero.
That's right folks - ol' Wisco is representin' again. Must be something in that hearty diet of corn and cheese us midwestern folks is raised on that makes the mind grow strong.

And seriously, Oshkosh-native Jim Vandehei has one strong mind. Not just in the sense that he is a powerful powerful intellectual force to be reckoned with, but in that this man sticks to his guns. When he's right, he's right, and nobody is going to convince him otherwise.

Jim created Politico.
Yeah - the same Politico that everyone in DC talks about non-stop - he made that. So one day, Jim, former assistant brick-layer, gets inspired when he's looking at the internet and realizing how it's creating this journalistic opportunity to do only stories that are new and interesting - no more of this "obligatory" journalism stuff (covering boring people with important titles saying boring things).

Why not just pick and choose the few stories that are really good, and then put the best reporters you can find on them. Win-win. (or win-win-win, as Michael Scott would suggest).

Well, everyone loved his idea, and everyone wanted a piece of it (everyone with money, that is, because otherwise who cares?). Now, Politico employs 200 people, has a huge profit margin, and commands the attention of everybody who's anybody on Capitol Hill & in the White House. 

It gets into the "nitty gritty"of politics. Who likes who, who hates who, who's out to get who, etc, etc.
And seriously, this stuff is interesting. I know the word "politics" is off-putting in itself - but think of it as Gossip Girl on the Hill. All these catty men (& to be fair, women, though I'd like to think that the men are what make this fine government the dysfunctional and scandal-ridden institution it is) in their secret wars - theoretical friends, personal enemies, committed to justice publicly, morally astray privately.

Even better than Gossip Girl, I'd say, - I mean, you expect this sort of behavior from spoiled New York teens (or 30 yr old actresses/same difference) - but not from the supposedly honorable collection of representatives charged with the task of running our nation. That just makes it so much more salacious.

Anyhow, Jim started this publication (print & online), and takes it very seriously.
He started the Q&A real casual, and then got extremely intense about what he expects both from his employees and from his business.
 -- There is no marketplace for mediocrity, we hire people who play to win- who have a track record for kicking ass, we have the constant mindset of a revolution --
Real hardcore stuff.

Major plus? According to Jim, journalism is well and alive.
Now prove it and hire me.