Marisa Guthrie in Broadcasting & Cable profiles ABC senior Washington correspondent Jake Tapper. Tapper has been active on the ABC airwaves, topping Andrew Tyndall‘s list of most heavily-used reporters during 2007.

Guthrie describes Tapper’s ascent at ABC News, from his days covering the 2000 election for Salon.com to his work on documentaries for VH1.

A former coworker at Salon, Kerry Lauerman, Salon’s editorial director, sees Tapper as, “the journalist of the future. You could slot him into all of these different mediums. He always had a very distinctive, wry, winking voice,” he said. “He sounds like Jake.”

Now with a focus on politics and the election, Guthrie writes that Tapper is, “happily in the moment.”

“You know those sports dorks who grow up and can’t wait to go work at ESPN?” Tapper says. “That’s what this is like for me. This is like my SportsCenter.”