The news formally exploded over the weekend that Jake Sherman, Anna Palmer and third wheel assistant Daniel Lippman will adopt Mike Allen‘s baby, Politico Playbook. Media writer Jim Rutenberg wrote about in the New York Times.
But the news wasn’t new. The information leaked in late April by CNN Money’s Dylan Byers.
Allen was supposed to remain writing Playbook throughout the November election. But now, like former CEO Jim VandeHei, he’s closing shop early on July 11. He and VandeHei will soon launch a new media venture.
So here comes The Shermanator today with some “news” about what Playbook will be with his fingers on Washington’s so-called power pulse. In tweets on Monday, Sherman appears to take swipes at Allen, who has been at the helm of the Playbook operation since 2007 when Politico was founded by his old Washington Post colleagues VandeHei and John Harris, the duo formerly known as VandeHarris.
Shermy stressed that new Playbook will involve NEWS.
Was Mike Allen’s Playbook devoid of NEWS?
The Shermanator also plans to “EXPAND THE ECOSYSTEM” of the operation — what’s up with all these caps, Jake; we can HEAR you — meaning that he’s going to take the thing nationwide, which could prove to be a real bore for those of us in Washington. And besides, Playbook already has a national operation (a Playbook family as Mike Allen has described it) with news hound Marc Caputo in Florida, New York, Cali, Brussels, whoever that guy is New Jersey and the woman in Boston.
Some readers are already wincing at the ageist crack Sherman made to the NYT. “We’re of a generation that is coming up and is grabbing control of power in Washington … the 28- to 50-year-olds who are running the town now.”
Allen turns 52 on June 21.
In other words, don’t worry, powerful Washingtonians: they won’t ignore you.
To his credit, Allen put Sherman, Palmer and Lippman front and center in Monday’s Playbook. They will “carry the torch” he wrote in the email subject headline. He made them the fifth item in the feature. In an internal memo, Harris called Lippman a “friendly face” and a “force multiplier.”
Here at The Mirror we’re taking bets on when ESSENTIAL MSNBCer and Sherman BFF Luke Russert will show up in Politico‘s Mother Ship Political Playbook.
Take our poll below.