Washington Post's Kornblut Is Accomplished -- And A Geek

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Yes, Washington Post reporter Anne Kornblut is so accomplished that she's covering her third presidential campaign while only 34 years old.

But what a political geek! What else can be said about someone who is so sentimental about Washington that she thinks "Wow!" as she leaves the Capitol by moonlight, and muses that "democracy is here and I'm a part of it."

Kornblut is such a straight arrow that she doesn't cast a ballot in some elections, partly because she might feel guilty about interviewing someone she's voted against. "I have a terrible poker face," she concedes. Besides, "I feel like my job is my civic duty."

What's more, she's transfixed by politics-heavy NPR. "I know everything about National Public Radio. When I was there, I asked, 'Is that Jennifer Ludden's chair?' I mean, you should not even know who Jennifer Ludden is. I was totally creepy."

Via Wikipedia, it's understood that "geek" is an accepted as a term of endearment that "has recently come to be used to refer to a person who is fascinated by knowledge and imagination."

That's Kornblut, all right. You could also call her a model reporter.

No wonder the Washington Post marshaled its forces last year, including entreaties from the parent company's Chief Executive Donald Graham, to woo her from the rival New York Times . She had been happy at the Times, but says that the Post "was really invested in building up their political team and they made me an offer I couldn't refuse."

Kornblut joined the Post in January as a national political reporter, one of many Post journalists on the campaign beat, and will be following the Democratic presidential candidates until Election Day.

Many platforms

She also excels in an era when the craft's job descriptions have expanded. Print reporters are now multiplatform journalists. Not only does she impress during her appearances on such television talk shows as "Meet the Press" and "Hardball," she embraces the Web in a way that serves the Washington Post Co. well.

Bloggers made their mark on the 2004 election between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry by hammering on trigger points such as Kerry's military service and Bush's Iraq policy.

When Kornblut was last in New Hampshire, she did a nifty Webcast at the Red Arrow diner in Manchester, N.H., six months before the crucial primary there. She and her colleague Mike Shear, who accompanied Mitt Romney on a separate trip to the Red Arrow, will also be among the Post reporters logging time in the Waveland Cafe, a political hotbed in Des Moines, Iowa, home of the widely followed caucuses.

The Post is a haven for political junkies. Kornblut stressed that her colleague Dan Balz, for instance, "is the uber-God of all of this."

But Kornblut can't fool me. I mean, I read "The Boys on the Bus," which brilliantly described how journalists covered the presidential campaign in 1972 (and yes, the book still has resonance 35 years later). What came across in 64-point type in Timothy Crouse's landmark book was how grueling the life was for the correspondents.

Reporters endure bad food, brutal traveling schedules, constant exhaustion and a lack of access to the candidates. It's not surprising that so many of the journalists in Crouse's book seemed so jaded.

Ms. Upbeat

By contrast, Kornblut is Ms. Upbeat.

For instance, a Web chat with the readers is one of those obligatory tasks that media companies assign to keep the customers satisfied. To convince their editors that they are team players, reporters participate, often grudgingly. Kornblut, characteristically, blew through the one-hour assignment on Aug. 3 with the cheerfulness of a cruise director.

"It's just fun to interact with people who take the time to read us every day," she said.

Perhaps the biggest hardship Kornblut experiences on the road is being apart from her kitchn. When I met her in Washington, she was toting a cookbook and eyeing a recipe for fried spaghetti.

On Sunday, she was working on a piece about Clinton while preparing a chicken and ribs dinner for 10 people. The 12 pounds of smoky ribs had been well received. ("I am still covered in charcoal," she cheerfully reported the following day.)

She is one of those compulsive workaholics who can walk on the treadmill while maneuvering a BlackBerry. "Doesn't everyone?" she shrugged.

Beltway kid

It's no surprise that Kornblut, a true Beltway kid, loves politics.

Growing up in McLean, Va., her family's next-door neighbor was Pat Buchanan, who wrote speeches for the Nixon White House and later ran for president. Alexander Haig, a top aide to President Nixon and later to President Reagan, lived down the street.

As a five-year-old, Kornblut played the violin in a group with Amy Carter, President Carter's daughter. Once they performed at the White House for the queen of Belgium.

She makes no secret of her affection for her hometown. FishbowlDC, an online-news service, did a lighthearted interview with Kornblut and asked that monumental question, "Yankees or Red Sox?"

On second thought, it wasn't a bad idea, since Kornblut must have mixed loyalties. She graduated from Columbia in New York City and worked for the New York Daily News as well as the Times. She worked for the Boston Globe for eight years as well.

So, Anne, do the Yankees or the Red Sox have your sporting heart?

"The Redskins," she replied, as in the Washington Redskins. Naturally.

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By Jon Friedman