A little after 8 p.m. Monday night, Washington Post reporters Robert Costa and Karen Tumulty co-bylined a story on why House Budget Committee Chairman and former VP hopeful Paul Ryan didn’t run for Majority Leader. It wasn’t breaking news and the story in today’s paper didn’t indicate as much as it was placed on A4. Anyone reading it could see it more as an explainer piece, describing what led up to Ryan not running.
But this morning in Politico Playbook, Chief White House Correspondent Mike Allen took an unusually nasty swipe at the Washington Post reporters for being, in his view, so late to the game.
But were they?
From Playbook:
THE WASHPOST has a scoop on A4 revealing, for those who have been off the grid for the past week: “Ryan rejects running for majority leader.” Guess the authors! It quotes Paul Ryan and Newt Gingrich. YUP: Costa and Tumulty. Ya can’t make it up
The Washington Post story was an interview with Ryan, who explained his reasons for his ambitions not resting in the House GOP leadership.
Costa declined to comment for this story.
Tumulty replied to an inquiry about Politico‘s swipe at them, saying their story “had quite a bit of new information, including that Boehner had broached the idea of running with Ryan. And maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I think there is always some value in talking to the principals on the record. Fortunately, we have terrific reporters like Bob Costa, who feels the same way and got the interview with Ryan.”
Politico and WaPo have long been fierce competitors. Politico‘s leaders, Editor-in-Chief John Harris and President and CEO Jim VandeHei, are former reporters for WaPo, as is Allen. Naturally, they’ve always viewed WaPo from a perch on high.
The Mirror also reached out Allen, but there was no response.
Costa replied, saying, “No comment, thanks.”