Politico Reporter Mike Allen on Campus

In town for a speaking engagement, Allen made time in his schedule to discuss topics including his path to his current position, how President Obama interacts with the press, how news is consumed today and what our students can do to succeed professionally in the future. After receiving his degree in politics and journalism from Washington & Lee University, Allen worked for the Fredericksburg afternoon newspaper, for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Washington Post, New York Times and Time magazine before taking his current job at Politico with occasional appearances on MSNBC's Morning Joe. Over the years, he has covered rural news, crime and campaigns at all levels of politics. Regarding his goal of presenting the news in an unbiased, fair way, he said, "My job is to understand people but not necessarily sympathize with them." He doesn't vote in elections and never has, he told the students.

Covering Obama now, on the eve of what will be the first $2 billion presidential campaign ever, has given him a very personal look at how the President functions day to day. Although Obama travels like the head of the United States -- "He takes a motorcade with him everywhere he goes, even if it's just across the street," Allen said -- he retains some aspects of normal life -- "He attends soccer and basketball games of his daughters and parent conference days." Every night, the President takes home a thick binder full of details on important issues, and, unlike some of his predecessors, he does his homework, reading up and making notes for upcoming meetings. Allen predicts that Obama may win re-election, but the race will be extremely close, and ultimately the outcome will depend on the middle section of the country as well as Virginia, "the swingiest of the swing states."

At Politico, which has grown to 200 staffers in just four years, the goal, Allen says, is to "get into the conversation" by running stories that will be mentioned in social media and traditional news venues. They report on major news items but also attempt to "go behind the curtain" to get to the core of Washington events -- why and how are things happening, what's behind the story. Their news operations are in full swing from 4:30am until midnight, and Allen says he's up at 2am and in the office by 3am. By posting as much new content to their site in the early hours, "we try to 'win the morning,'" he explains, pulling as many readers as possible their way.

Allen's advice to students as they approach the working world is to realize that even "the worst job can be the best job" if you do it as well as you can and make the most out of contacts you make along the way. In addition to considering your own position in the workplace, it's important to think about "how you can serve the person above you and below you and beside you, too."

Special thanks to Walker Surgner '11's dad Brandt Surgner, former W&L classmate and friend of Mike Allen, for arranging his visit.