The [Monday] Papers

"We might as well admit it up front: The first time we heard of the liberal blogging network known as Daily Kos was when Bill O'Reilly dissed it on his show," the Tribune editorial page says this morning.

Whoa! The Tribune editorial page had never heard of Daily Kos until . . . last week?!!!

Tribune editorial board, you're fired.

Daily Kos is only a blogging pioneer and probably the most successful political site on the entire frickin' Internet. Did you guys sleep through the Howard Dean campaign? You do get the Internet, don't you?

And you're going to tell us who to vote for?

Daily Kos is more influential than you are!

What's worse is . . . Kos was born in Chicago! He went to Schaumburg High School. That's Tribune Country!

He was a precinct captain for Henry Hyde!

And apparently you missed this local story about "Chicago's most-read political writer." She's featured on Kos.

Way to keep up!

"Next thing we know," the Trib continues, "hundreds of 'Kossacks' are hunched over their laptops at McCormick Place South, and seven Democratic presidential candidates are lined up to take their questions."

Wow, that really snuck up on you!

"Very impressive."

You think?

Next: the Trib editorial board discovers The Daily Show.

Daley Damage Control
From today's Sun-Times: "A story in early Sunday editions about Mayor Daley and Inspector General David Hoffman incorrectly said, 'Lori Healey, the mayor's chief of staff, was so concerned about the negative publicity, she showed up at the news conference to highlight changes Daley had already made to prevent such abuses.' The sentence should have said, 'Then chief of staff Ron Huberman was so concerned about the negative publicity, he showed up at the news conference to highlight changes Daley had already made to prevent such abuses.'"

Reality Show
It's not just the bad publicity Daley is worried about. It's the inspector general himself.

What's next, the mayor forming a parallel U.S. attorney's office that reports directly to him?

Michelle Station
Mary Mitchell drove two hours to ask Michelle Obama if she was black enough.

A Near Exclusive!
It was hardly a "rare" interview, as billed by the Sun-Times. The campaign just sent Michelle on a national media tour, for godsakes.

Do you think the Sun-Times has heard of Daily Kos?

Race Bait
"But in an [Esquire] commentary by Charles Pierce on the 'half-wits and harridans' opposing Edwards, I ran into this alarming sentence," Neil Steinberg writes, "which would look at home on a pamphlet found on a bus station urinal: 'It is an odd campaign. By most accounts, Edwards is running third, behind a woman and a black man.'

"'Well! What is the world coming to?'"

Um, Neil, you've read that entirely backwards. Pierce isn't alarmed; he's noting the remarkably historic and distinct dynamic of this campaign with the good-natured amazement we all should feel.

Can anyone around here play this game?

And I'm pretty sure Steinberg hasn't heard of Daily Kos. After all, the self-described "professional explainer" didn't know who Peyton Manning was until his 9-year-old son told him two days before the Super Bowl (fourth item).

Gov. Baloneyvich
"By fall 2005, Gov. Rod Blagojevich's well-publicized effort to import vaccines to Illinois amid a national flu scare had failed. Stymied by federal regulators who wouldn't allow the unapproved drugs into the country, the Democratic governor was stuck with a $2.6 million bill for medicine expiring in refrigerators on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean," the Tribune reported on Sunday.

The Trib buries the best part in the very last paragraph of the story:

"[T]he governor, who has previously described his pursuit of the vaccines as 'probably the best decision I've ever made,' still maintains Illinois should write the check."

Our Olympics
When the Sun-Times published "Fighting for Olympics: Boxing event to show our ability to host the Games" on Saturday, they meant "city officials'" ability to host the Games, not "our" ability, right?

Murdoched
"If Murdoch cheapens the Journal, makes it a megaphone for his global business interests or imperils the integrity of its reporting, the ensuing staff mutiny will be the least of his problems," the Tribune editorial page believes. "The people who pay the freight - Journal readers and advertisers - will vamoose, and other news outlets will provide the top-quality journalism needed to attract them and their dollars."

Earth to Tribune! It's 1955 calling. They want your naivete back.

I mean, gee, it just wouldn't be like Rupert Murdoch to use one of his media outlets as a megaphone for his own interests!

My prediction: Murdoch will slowly but surely transform the Journal into a conservative version of The New York Times, sharing content and personalities with Fox News and Murdoch's soon-to-be-launched business channel. While many current Journal readers will go away, many more will flock to it - Red America. Corporate folk are already a large part of that base anyway. And advertisers will love it. They go where the eyeballs are; they don't care if its porn or lawn care.

And Tribune, save the braggadocio about carrying on your sober duties under Sam Zell. You are nothing but a distressed property to him - and you will be treated as such. Wake up.

The Obama Lobby
"I disagree with the notion that lobbyists don't have disproportionate influence," Obama said at the Kos convention. "The insurance and the drug companies have spent 1 billion dollars in lobbying over the last ten years. Now Hillary you were talking about the efforts you made back in 1993, you cannot tell me that money did not make a difference. They are not spending that just because they're contributing to the public interest. They have an agenda. So one thing I wanted to be clear about is part of the analysis for all of you is who is got a track record on doing this."

* "While they don't accept money directly from federal lobbyists, Edwards and Obama are not above benefiting from the broader lobbying community. Both accept money from firms that have lobbying operations, and Obama in particular has tapped the networks of lobbyists' friends and co-workers. Obama, a former state senator from Illinois, has long accepted money from state lobbyists," Ron Fournier of the AP reports.

* "Even as he shuns donations from lobbyists, Obama has taken more than $1.4 million this year from law and consultancy firms that have partners who are registered to lobby, a Times analysis of Obama's fundraising shows. He has received hundreds of thousands more from corporate executives while turning down money from their lobbyists," the Los Angeles Times reports.

* "Away from the bright lights and high-minded rhetoric of the campaign trail, Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has quietly worked with corporate lobbyists to help pass breaks worth $12 million," ABC News reports in "Despite Rhetoric, Obama Pushed Lobbyists' Interests."

* "Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is benefiting from the support of well-connected Washington lobbyists even though he has prohibited his campaign from accepting contributions from them and political action committees (PACs)," says The Hill in "Obama's K Street Project."

* "Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has pledged to create a new brand of politics in the Democratic presidential primary by rejecting contributions from lobbyists and political action committees (PAC), but his fundraising records show that he relies on donors with special interests," The Hill reports. "Three of Obama's top fundraisers, who each have raised more than $50,000 for his campaign since January, were registered as lobbyists last year, according to reports filed with the Senate Office of Public Records."

The Beachwood Tip Line: Lobby me.