National Review's Robert Costa, the standout reporter of the recent government shutdown, is joining the Washington Post as national political reporter, according to a memo obtained by The Huffington Post.
Costa has built a strong following with his deep reporting on Republican leadership and the conservative movement for National Review. In the memo, Post editors described Costa as "one of the country's best chroniclers of the Republican Party."
In March, Costa spoke to The Huffington Post about the need for more of an emphasis on breaking news in conservative media.
"You can't just stay in the conservative bubble," Costa said. "If you want to compete with all kind of journalists -- especially the liberal journalists -- you've got to be able to play their game and do things how they do it."
Here's the memo:
We are very pleased to announce that Robert Costa, one of the country's best chroniclers of the Republican Party, will join The Washington Post as a National political reporter.
Bob has become an absolute must-follow for his coverage of Republicans, particularly after his stellar runs during this year's government shutdown, the fiscal cliff negotiations and the 2012 presidential campaign. He is a believer in journalism new and old -- he shares what he knows when he knows it, whether in a tweet, blog post or longer form. We look forward to all of the above -- and more.
New York magazine, which called Bob the "golden boy of the government shutdown," wrote this about him last month: "[H]is reporting from behind the closed doors of Republicans in Congress held up as indispensable, a shining beacon of the form in which a man tirelessly asks questions and prints answers without fluff or bluster." In other words, our kind of guy.
Bob comes to us from National Review, where he has been Washington Editor, directing a team of reporters and leading its Capitol Hill bureau. Before National Review, he was a Robert L. Bartley Fellow at the Wall Street Journal. Bob has appeared frequently as a political analyst for CNBC.
Bob is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and has a master's degree in politics from the University of Cambridge, where he was an active member of the Cambridge Union debating society.
His first day will be Jan. 6. Please join us in welcoming him to The Post.
Cameron Anne Steven