TPM has announced it is launching a new political blog, TPMDC.com, which they describe as "successor to TPM Election Central." Matt Cooper, formerly of The New York Times, Newsweek, etc. and currently a contributing editor at Portfolio, where he will continue, has been hired to cover the White House and the Obama administration. Says Cooper in his inaugural post:

I've been a fan of Josh Marshall and the site for a long time and it's nice to be a part of it. I continue to write for Conde Nast Portfolio, where I'm a contributing editor, as well as its website, and other publications. But I'll be doing a lot here, trying to make sense of this new era and what it means. I covered the Clinton and George W. Bush presidencies for mainstream media outlets like Time and Newsweek, but I have deep roots in publications like this, having started my journalism career at The Washington Monthly and later having written the "White House Watch" column for The New Republic.