Why not let a reporter into your home? Oh right, here’s maybe why not.

“Could Tommy Vietor be a bigger douche?” a FishbowlDC reader writes in reaction to the intriguing interview Bloomberg White House Correspondent Hans Nichols did with him.

Seven things to observe about the interview… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

McDonough “is expected to be named White House chief of staff soon,” Allen’s item says. It also comes just one day after Nichols wrote a followup piece that said President Obama “has signaled to his senior advisers that Denis McDonough … is his leading candidate to succeed Jack Lew as White House chief of staff.”

We’ve reached out to Allen for comment.

A FishbowlDC reader was more than incensed about the Bloomberg reporter not getting proper credit… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

HOLIDAY JOKESTER: “My favorite 2012 picture of Steve Buttry.” — Mimi Buttry, wife of Steve Buttry. Buttry is the Digital Transformation Editor at Digital First Media. Nice, fancy title, Buttry!

Blogger goes nuts over bourbon balls

“Soaking nuts in Bourbon before I make Bourbon balls and I’m totally going to eat these nuts aren’t I?” — Laurie White, photographer, writer and blogger.

Roll Call researcher gets on wrong Metro car

“Of course I got on the Metro car with the puddle of barf in it.” — Katie Kovach, international affairs and defense researcher for Roll Call.

Important Question to Ponder: “I can’t believe people are tweeting about politics on Christmas Day. Why aren’t you people drunk struggling with electronics?” — InTheseTimes labor reporter Mike Elk.

“Fuckers”: The new way to say Happy Holidays!

“Happy Holidays to you too, fuckers.” — HuffPost‘s Sabrina Siddiqui to BuzzFeed‘s John Stanton, Politico‘s Kate Nocera and TPM‘s Igor Bobic.

Someone had to say it… “U.S. Senator in Deep ‘Crapo’ After DUI Arrest” — El Sharko blogger of Miami. (The Mormon senator from Idaho, Mike Crapo, got a DUI Sunday night. Nice timing!)

BuzzFeed editor gets weepy over gay weddings

“Watching a bunch of gay wedding videos and slowly getting emotional.” — BuzzFeed senior editor Stacy Lambe.

Uh oh. Scratch the drunken driving jokes

“Drunk driver jokes aren’t funny, folks. Especially if someone you love has been taken from you by one. Not a GOP or Dem. thing.” — Paul Brandus of  WestWingReport.

“People, there is nothing funny about drunk driving. Nothing.” — Politico‘s Ben White.

“Good thing people sending gleeful tweets re Crapo DUI have never needed compassion after some stupid/hypocritical human failing.” — Harold Pollack, University of Chicago professor.

Not a happy ending for this journo

“Merry Christmas to the TSA agent who touched my junk.” — Free Beacon‘s  CJCiaramella.

Editor copes with new holiday traditions

“My Presbyterian brain can’t process my Catholic wife’s family’s tradition of unwrapping presents on Christmas Eve.” — National Journal “The Hotline’s” Editor-in-Chief Reid Wilson.

Peanut Gallery du Jour: “I bet Jesus gets super pissed that his birthday is so close to Christmas.” — FBDC and “Full Court Press” co-host Peter Ogburn.

Real HuffPost Headline: “Not having sex? 7 ways to start again”

Oops! Wrong address.

“Someone sent us five pounds of dry aged steak for Christmas. Sent it to the wrong house. Sat on a porch for a week. #tryingnottocry.” — CNN Contributor and RedState‘s Erick Erickson. As our own Rachel Ray (a.k.a. Ogburn) explained it, “aged meat = good, aged meat outside = not good.” Erickson also doubles as an imbibing Santa. He wrote, “The kids are sound asleep. Santa is about to put together the toys as soon as he finishes his bourbon.”

HELP!

“Just drove past a car completely engulfed in flames on the Ohio turnpike. Scary stuff.” — National Journal daily production employee Michelle Bloom.

Dicking Around With John Dickerson

“During Christmas service tonight, my 3rd grade daughter: ‘Mom what’s a virgin?’” — CBS Political Director and Slate‘s John Dickerson.

Um, constituents?

“Good morning Twitter constituents! Everyone have a Merry Christmas, a happy holiday and I hope u all experience the joy the season brings.” — Javonni Brustow, Washington editor of TheDCPundit.com, who transformed himself into a politician as millions of Christians celebrated the birth of Christ.

Holiday gun jokes: too soon?

“20-year-old twins Bob and Jim give Christmas gifts to 14-year-old Jefferson and 12-year-old Emerson: GUNS!” — Conservative blogger and ex-TWTer Robert Stacy McCain.

“I’m told a bearded guy may break into my house tonight. Should I greet him w/ AK-47 or Glock?” — Current’s David Shuster.

“Idea: arm every air traveler.” — Wired senior reporter and third tier Boybander Spencer Ackerman.

Unnecessary Tweet of the Day

“Hostess told me I just booked the last available reservation tonight at our local Chinese restaurant. #christmasmiracle.” — Howeesha Kurtz (a.k.a The Hill‘s gossip columnist Judy Kurtz.)

Down and out journalists… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Fair enough. But Munro, who was largely shunned and criticized by colleagues after his incident, had another take on the matter… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

National Journal

At the time, White House reporters, among many others, were outraged with Munro. But on Wednesday colleagues patted Hans on the back.

Read what Condon wrote into FishbowlDC… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

President Obama

So Bloomberg‘s Hans Nichols opted for the next best thing: A Daily Caller Neil Munro-style shouted question out of turn. As Nichols posed his question, you could see reporters like FNC’s Chief White House Correspondent Ed Henry and others snickering in the row ahead. Nichols clearly had no regrets:  “I asked POTUS if he is open to short term extension on the SPENDING side of fiscal cliff, Jan 1 deadline. #deathstare,” he wrote on Twitter. NYT’s Michael Shear seemed impressed: “In the ongoing battle for more access to the president, Hans Nichols is my new hero. Way to go.” And NYT‘s Peter Baker added, “Hear Hear.”

(Funny, this wasn’t the White House media reaction to Munro back in June.) In response to that, some online referred to Nichols as a “friendlier” Munro.

Death stare may be a little strong… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Bloomberg

The intrepid Nichols quickly put two and two together and figured out that police brought in to assist with crowd control are struggling with basic geography. Strangely, they have no earthly idea where the convention center is, even when standing a block away.

At one point he wonders whether an officer’s horse knows where the convention center is.

“Those guys might be good at crowd control – but not very good at directions,” smirked Nichols, who created a video for Bloomberg TV and who may not be laughing when they start posting his picture with a big, fat red x through it.

Watch the video here.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

We hear Bloomberg White House Correspondent Hans Nichols and Chief Washington correspondent Peter Cook will take on the White House economic team: Alan Kreuger and Gene Sperling.

Peter is lowering expectations, complaining of blisters caused his new tennis shoes and his attempts to practice yesterday. Hans has brought his college tennis racquets with them (with tennis ball fuzz stuck in the strings).

Other newsies scheduled to participate in the event include ABC News’s Jonathan Karl and FNC’s Bret Baier.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

A book signing not to miss: WaPo Associate Editor and Pultizer Prize-winner David Maraniss will be at Politics & Prose this Wednesday at 7 p.m. to discuss his book, Barack Obama: The Story. From the site: “Starting in Kenya and Kansas before Obama’s birth, Maraniss traces the influences the future president absorbed in Hawaii, Indonesia, New York, and Chicago, influences which shaped his developing political career.”

Congresswoman Berkley disses Bloomberg scribe: It’s safe to say that NBC’s Brian Williams shouldn’t feel threatened by the latest package from Bloomberg’s Hans Nichols, who does his best ever Gayle King/Brian Ross impersonation (no, not really, we’re joking). Nichols ever so suavely visits The Source Restaurant in downtown Washington to cover a fundraiser for Las Vegas Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley‘s Senate race. In the clip we learn that House Maj. Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who invited lobbyists to the fundraiser, ate cantaloupe. We never find out what Berkley ate for breakfast because Berkley tells him how inappropriate he is when he “catches” her exciting the fundraiser and tells him to call her office, which translates loosely to: “Go to hell.” She tells him, “I think this is an inappropriate way to talk to people. You’re welcome to call my office.” Watch here.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

April Ryan, who works for American Urban Radio, was elected Friday to the White House Correspondents Association Board as was McLatchy‘s Senior White House Correspondent Steve Thomma. Among the choices were Ryan, Thomma, Sirius XM Radio’s Jared Rizzi and Bloomberg‘s Julianna Goldman. But the real dogfight was Ryan versus Goldman.

Word on the street is that reporters wanted a fighter. They also didn’t want to risk a Bloomberg board member just looking out for Bloomberg. “April’s tough as nails, and really knows her stuff,” said Mediaite‘s White House reporter Tommy Christopher. “She’ll do a great job. And what a great way to kick off Obama’s second term.”

Ryan is certainly no wimp. Some may recall that in December of 2009, former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told her to “calm down” and “take a deep breath” after she pressed him on whether then-Social Secretary Desiree Rogers had overstepped appropriate protocol in the Salahi party crashing incident. Gibbs equated the reporter’s behavior with that of his young son. April snapped back, “Don’t play with me.”

A White House reporter who spoke on the condition of anonymity gave us the lowdown on the race, saying, “April worked really hard on that race, she put a lot into it. Julianna ran a strong race, too, and as charming and well-respected she is, in the end she couldn’t overcome the Bloomberg curse. And Jared was just too new to the White House to make a serious dent in the race.”

A note on the curse: Some may recall that Bloomberg reporter Hans Nichols ran for the board last year and lost badly to then-Politico reporter Carol Lee, who now works for WSJ. At the time there was a sour taste among the Press Corps as publications such as Bloomberg, WSJ and Politico all signed up journos as White House reporters for voting purposes. Some charged dirty campaigning.

See the complete listing of officers and WHCA board members after the jump…

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Watch here

He writes, “Let the record show…that I first raised the idea of a “Slurpee® Summit” at the end of a webpiece posted October 8th. I await my royalties.” Read here.
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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The July 15 race for the at-large seat of the White House Correspondents’ Association is reaching a fevered pitch. The race has gotten so competitive that all three candidates — Politico‘s Carol Lee, Bloomberg’s Hans Nichols and WSJ‘s Laura Meckler — are being accused of a ballot box stuffing form of campaigning.

An e-mail letter circulating the past few days from the Washington Examiner‘s White House correspondent and WHCA at-large board member Julie Mason says all three candidates have been making sure that reporters and editors from their own publications get signed up for the WHCA to garner more votes.

Among those who have signed up in the course of the election: Bloomberg’s Al Hunt is now a member, as are Politico’s top Editors, Jim VandeHei and John Harris. WSJ‘s Gerald Seib is also now a member.

Sources tell FishbowlDC that each candidate has signed up several new WHCA members during this election. According to those familiar with the WHCA, the organization is supposed to be for grunty White House reporters who need a larger entity to give them a voice — not those they charge will do little more than give their own reporter a vote. Sources have also told FishbowlDC that all of the candidates have their downsides — with at least two of the candidates — Nichols and Meckler — having personality deficits that would make them unpalatable to voters.

Nichols had no comment, but instead this automatic e-mail response: “I am out today. Please contact White House editor Joe Sobczyk if it’s urgent.”

Meckler said she didn’t start the practice of encouraging journalists to sign up until she saw other candidates doing it: “I think membership in the WHCA should be limited to people who actually cover the White House,” she wrote in a statement to FishbowlDC. “However, in recent days and weeks, the membership requirements evidently have been relaxed, and many editors and others from Bloomberg and Politico were cleared for membership in the association. I reluctantly concluded that to say competitive in the race, I should inquire whether editors and others at my news organization who are involved in White House coverage were interested in joining the association, and a handful of them joined in the last day or so. I only did this after seeing that others had done it first, and I sincerely wish that none of this had occurred. It’s a huge waste of time and energy.”

Lee, in an e-mail: “Everyone who works at Politico and is a member of the Correspondents’ Association covers the White House, either as an editor or a reporter. The association has a process for approving members and renewing dues, and they went through that process.”

The e-mail written by Mason, who has two years remaining on the board, has been circulating around the bureaus. In it, she expresses her distaste for the campaign…

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

• NBC’s Meet the Press: General David Petraeus, Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN), WaPo’s E.J. Dionne, WSJ’s Peggy Noonan, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD).

• CBS’ Face the Nation: Exclusive interview with former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

• ABC’s This Week (with Terry Moran): Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA), Gov. Edward Rendell (D-PA)and roundtable with George Will, Donna Brazile, Matthew Dowd and Arianna Huffington.

• CNN’s State of the Union (with Candy Crowley now): Gov. Jim Douglas (R) Vermont; Gov. Deval Patrick (D) Massachusetts; Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.; Susan Molinari (R) former U.S. Representative, and former Democratic NJ Gov. Jon Corzine.

• Fox News’ Fox News Sunday: Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Governor Haley Barbour (MS-R), Gov. Jennifer Granholm, (D- Michigan) and Steve Grove, Head of News and Politics at YouTube.

• CNN’s Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz: Christine Brennan, USA Today, ABC News contributor; Jason Whitlock, Kansas City Star; ESPN contributor; Lisa Bloom, CNN legal analyst

• Washington Week with Gwen Ifill and National Journal: Alexis Simendinger of National Journal, CNN’s Gloria Borger, Jackie Calmes of The New York Times and Politico’s Eamon Javers.

• CNN’s GPS with Fareed Zakaria: James Baker, former U.S. Secretary of State; Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, Yemeni Foreign Minister

• NBC’s The Chris Matthews Show: NBC News’ Savannah Guthrie, WaPo’s David Ignatius, NYT’s Helene Cooper, Politico’s John Harris.

• Bloomberg’s Political Capital with Al Hunt: Deficit committee co-chairmen Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, Bloomberg’s Rich Miller, Hans Nichols, Indira Lakshmanan, Margaret Carlson and Kate O’Beirne.

• Washington Watch with Roland Martin: Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and John Boyd, Jr., president of the National Black Farmers Association.

• CNN’s Amanpour: Bernardo Alvarez Herrera, Venezuelan Ambassador to the U.S.; Michael Shifter, VP for policy and director of the Andean Program at the Inter-American Dialogue; Leopoldo Lopez Mendoza, former District Mayor of Caracas

• C-SPAN’s Newsmakers: Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.)