True to his word, Ben Smith was out at Politico and working for BuzzFeed on Jan. 1. With him gone, the “Ben Smith” blog was immediately transformed into the new “Dylan Byers” blog.

Byers joined the Politico team to work with Smith on the blog. Much to his recent surprise, he’ll run the new show solo.

Decisions. Decisions. Management appears to be going back and forth on what it wants. It’s odd that the tagline “On Media” was added to the blog when the original “On Media” blog run by Keach Hagey was terminated in early November. And she never got top billing, at least by name. In an introductory post, Byers wrote that it will be “a new conversation at the intersection of media and politics,” as it was before Smith left. In his final note to readers, Smith went above and beyond to promote Byers, calling him “dangerous” and “talented” and “on fire.” Is he a media reporter or the new James Bond?

Along with the new blog comes a new Politico caricature of Byers. In an email he told FBDC the drawing is “spot on” until he shaves, at least.