Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

September 21, 2009

Letterman Gets Political

With President Obama as David Letterman's sole guest tonight and former President Clinton making a visit tomorrow night, the New York Times reports this "happens to dovetail with a larger strategy for The Late Show With David Letterman. The comedian has been reshaping his program around a longer, more ambitious, more politically pointed monologue."

Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs addressed the president's Letterman appearance at his morning gaggle with reporters aboard Air Force One.

Q: Does the President have any funny anecdotes for David Letterman tonight?

MR. GIBBS: Well, I'm not going to preview them here, for goodness sakes.

Q: Well, so we can get ready. (Laughter.)

MR. GIBBS: So that you can get ready? Well, that was first and foremost on the President's mind this morning.

No, he's had a good rapport with David Letterman for quite some time. We did this before he became a senator and again on the presidential campaign, so it should be -- I think it will be fun. But I also think, again, I think it's a way of talking to people that may not get their news all from traditional outlets. So I think that's an important way to continue the conversation.

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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