Our Campaign Staff

By Richard Stengel, Managing Editor

Experience vs. change. That's the choice that has come to define the 2008 presidential campaign. But at TIME, we pride ourselves on never having to choose between the two. To cover what is the most wide-open election in our lifetime, we have assembled the premier political team in journalism, a group that combines decades of campaign experience with the agility required to keep readers informed across a range of platforms. From the guerrilla Web videos on our Swampland blog to Mark Halperin's The Page at TIME.com to our ongoing coverage in the print magazine to round-the-clock TV appearances by TIME correspondents, we offer the world's smartest, most inventive campaign coverage in every medium. All of which adds up to our putting the news in context the way we always have: with great authority, great reporting and great writing, and now great video too.

When you talk about experience plus change, you have to begin with the best political columnist in America, Joe Klein. This is his ninth presidential campaign, and from his energy and enthusiasm, you'd think it was his first. In addition to his weekly column in the magazine, In the Arena, Klein is a prolific blogger on TIME.com's Swampland. That's where our political team can break news, gossip about new polls or commercials and do explainer videos. The Swampland cast includes national political correspondent Karen Tumulty, who is covering her sixth presidential campaign; Washington bureau chief Jay Carney; and Ana Marie Cox, the former Wonkette, whose witty writing and fun explainer videos help give Swampland its flair. (Working with Cox to put them together is TIME.com politics producer Caitlin Thompson.) Another regular TIME.com feature, The Page, provides a daily webcast by editor-at-large Halperin and 24/7 breaking-news coverage from the trail. It has become indispensable to anyone who loves politics.

The past week has showcased our team at its best. Michael Scherer, a former correspondent for Salon.com penned a dispatch on Governor Mike Huckabee for this week's issue, while the indefatigable Jay Newton-Small, with the Obama campaign, posted numerous scoops on Swampland. Assistant managing editor Michael Duffy brilliantly analyzed the results out of Iowa and New Hampshire on TIME.com The magazine cover story was written by editors-at-large Nancy Gibbs, who has written more than 100 TIME covers, and David Von Drehle, who came to us from the Washington Post and wrote and reported the Oct. 22, 2007, cover on Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. Overseeing our coverage is Nation editor Amy Sullivan and Daniel Eisenberg, who edits all our online political coverage and never seems to sleep.

So follow the 2008 election with us in print and online. Experience plus change. There's no better combination.

Richard Stengel, MANAGING EDITOR