“It’s become a competition about who can get the better ‘get,’ ” said Tammy Haddad, a former producer for Chris Matthews and Larry King and thus no stranger to megawatt wrangling. “Journalists are very competitive and there are very few times they get to go head to head, like at a political convention.” The dinner, she said, gives these multiplatform media rivals a perfect showcase “to bring in someone of interest to draw attention to the work they are doing.”
Indeed, the rush for celebrity guests and tickets (we’ll get to the lawsuit in a moment) has grown so intense that Haddad — who now runs her own media company — last year co-founded whitehousecorrespondentsweekendinsider.com as the go-to site for all things WHCAD. This year, Politico.com has multiple staffers feeding the beast with late-breaking coverage that spotlights everything from the menu to after-party event planners. Both sites list the Saturday afternoon garden party at Haddad’s home, given with a clutch of co-hosts. This year it has ties to a pair of charities, a guest list of 500, and a special interview area so the boldface names won’t feel hassled by working journos under the tent.
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