The Gang of 500 snapshot
(Defined as the 500 individuals whose decisions most shape media narrative in politics – and this only. Whose decisions end up shaping the hot topics, interview questions, campaign messages, column inches, tv airtime..etc.) (some included not for their current influence but for their potential influence if they wished to wield it)
(NOT defined as: the 500 “most powerful” or even “most influential”)
(THE LIST IS NOT IN ORDER OF RANK)
- Barack Obama, President of the United States
- Denis McDonough, WH Chief of Staff
- Valerie Jarrett, WH Advisor
- Jen Psaki, WH Director of Communications
- Ben Rhodes, lots of hats
- Josh Earnest, WH Press Secretary
- Cody Keenan, WH Director of Speechwriting
- Jennifer Palmieri, Clinton 2016 Director of Communications
- Robby Mook, Clinton 2016 Campaign Manager
- John Podesta, Clinton 2016 Campaign Chairman
- Karen Finney, Clinton 2016 Strategic Communications
- Guy Cecil, Priorities USA
- Jim Messina, Priorities USA
- Buffy Wicks, unspecified role
- Neera Tanden, Center for American Progress
- Bill Clinton, unspecified role
- Jake Sullivan, unspecified role in Hillary Land
- Huma Abedin, anywhere her husband isnt
- David Brock, American Bridge
- Dan Pfeiffer, unspecified role
- Hillary Clinton, Presidential Candidate
- Bernie Sanders, Presidential Candidate
- Jeff Weaver, Sanders 2016 Campaign Manager
- Tad Devine, Sanders campaign strategist
- Lis Smith, O’Malley Deputy Campaign Manager
- David Hamrick, O’Malley Campaign Manager
- Danny Diaz, Bush 2016 Campaign Manager
- David Kochel, Bush 2016 senior strategist
- Jon Downs, unspecified role in Bushland
- Matt Gorman, Bush 2016 Rapid Response
- Tim Miller, Bush 2016 Director of Communications
- Mike Murphy, Right to Rise USA (pro bush)
- Paul Lindsay, American Crossroads, Right to Rise USA (pro bush)
- Terry Sullivan, Rubio 2016 Campaign Manager
- Joe Pounder, oppo mastermind for Rubio
- Rich Beeson, Rubio 2016 Deputy Campaign Manager
- Todd Harris, Rubio 2016 media strategist
- Heath Thompson, Rubio 2016 media strategist
- Alex Conant, Rubio 2016 Director of Communications
- Marco Rubio, Presidential Candidate
- Ted Cruz, Presidential Candidate
- Chad Sweet, Cruz 2016 Chairman
- Jeff Roe, Cruz 2016 Campaign Manager
- Jason Johnson, Cruz 2016 strategist
- Jason Miller, Cruz 2016 strategist
- Brian Phillips, Cruz 2016 rapid response
- Rick Tyler, Cruz 2016, always on television dude
- Donald Trump, Presidential Candidate
- Unspecified intern (?), Trump twitter retweeter
- Corey Lewendowski, Trump 2016 campaign manager
- Katrina Pierson, Trump 2016 spokesperson
- Megan Powers, Trump 2016 branding expert
- Ben Carson, Presidential Candidate
- Chris Christie, Presidential Candidate
- Ken McKay, Christie 2016 Campaign Manager
- Phil Cox, America Leads SuperPac (pro Christie)
- Carly Fiorina, Presidential Candidate
- Lindsey Graham, Presidential Candidate
- Mike Huckabee, Presidential Candidate
- Rand Paul, Presidential Candidate
- Debbie Wasserman Shultz, DNC Chairwoman
- Donna Brazile, DNC Vice Chair and always on tv
- Luiz Miranda, DNC Director of Communications
- Reince Priebus, RNC Chairman
- Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader
- Brian McGuire, McConnell Chief of Staff
- Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House
- Kevin McCarthy, U.S. House
- David Hoppe, Ryan Chief of Staff
- Michael Ricci, Ryan communications director
- Veronica Swinehart, Ryan media point person
- Brendan Buck, Ryan communications aide
- Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader
- Daniel Bernal, Pelosi Chief of Staff
- Harry Reid, U.S. Senate Minority Leader
- Drew Willison, Reid chief of staff
- David Krone, Reid former chief of staff, still in inner circle
- John McCain, former Presidential Candidate
- Mitt Romney, Former presidential candidate
- Charles Schumer, U.S. Senate
- Mike Lynch, Schumer Chief of Staff
- Joseph Biden, Vice President of the United States
- David Plouffe, UBER (yes he still makes the list)
- Pete Rouse, Perkins Coie firm
- Tom Donohue, Chamber of Commerce
- Tim Geithner, Warburg Pincus firm
- John Boehner, retired
- Karl Rove, American Crossroads
- Steven Law, American Crossroads
- Ed Gillespie, unspecified role, many hats that man
- Grover Norquist, something to do with bathtubs I think
- Tony Podesta, Lobbyist
- Chris Van Hollen, future senator
- Jim DeMint, Heritage
- Kathryn Ruemmler, Latham and Watkins
- Patty Murray, could be minority leader if she wanted it hard enough
- Dick Cheney, still says things
- Chris Dodd, Lobbyist
- Anthony Kennedy, Associate Supreme Court Justice
- John Roberts, Supreme Court Chief Justice
- Mike Barnicle, Boston Herald
- David Brooks, NYT
- J. Dionne, WAPO
- Maureen Dowd lol just kidding okay we will go with Thomas Friedman
- Charles Sourkrout, WAPO
- Nicholas Kristof, NYT
- Kathleen Parker, WAPO
- George Will, WAPO
- Christiane Amanpour, CNN
- Brooke Baldwin, CNN
- John Berman, CNN
- Wolf Blitzer, CNN
- Erin Burnett, CNN
- Jeff Zucker, CNN
- Michael Bass, CNN
- Richard Davis, CNN
- David Chalian, CNN
- Anderson Cooper, CNN
- Chris Cuomo, CNN
- Jake Tapper, CNN
- Dana Bash, CNN
- Candy Crowley, formerly CNN
- Fareed Zakaria, CNN
- Jim Acosta, CNN
- Gloria Borger, CNN
- Drew Griffin, CNN
- John King, CNN
- Brianna Keilar, CNN
- Chris Moody, CNN
- Jim Sciutto, CNN
- Jeff Zeleny, CNN and formerly NYT
- Paul Begala, CNN
- David Gergen, CNN
- E. Cupp, CNN
- Van Jones, CNN
- Jeffrey Toobin, CNN
- Adam Levy, CNN
- Rachel Streitfeld, CNN
- Mark Preston, CNN
- Paul Steinhauser, CNN
- Gretchen Carlson, Fox News
- Steve Doocy, Fox News
- Sean Hannity, Fox News
- Bret Baier, Fox News
- Ed Henry, Fox News
- Shepard Smith, Fox News
- Carl Cameron, Fox News
- Brit Hume, Fox News
- Megyn Kelly, Trump target
- Bill Oreilly, king of this whole list
- Greta van Sustren, Fox News
- Chris Wallace, Fox News
- Tucker Carlson, some website
- Neil Cavuto, Fox News
- Laura Ingraham, the radio
- Rush Limbaugh, even more the radio
- Jonathan Karl, ABC
- Martha Raddatz, ABC
- George Stephanopolous, ABC
- Karen Travers, ABC
- Mika Brzesinki, MSNBC
- Willie Geist, NBC
- Lester Holt, NBC
- Rachel Maddow, MSNBC
- Chris Matthews, MSNBC
- Andrea Mitchell, NBC
- Kelly o’Donnell, NBC
- Thomas Roberts, NBC
- Luke Russert, the kid
- Joe Scarborough, former congressman
- Chuck Todd, way better than that other guy
- Ben Smith, grand supreme wizard of Buzzfeed and the planet
- Katherine Miller, Buzzfeed
- John Stanton, total bama
- CJ Ciaramella, Buzzfeed
- McKay Coppins, some random Mormon I guess
- Ruby Cramer, Buzzfeed
- Rosie Gray, Buzzfeed
- Chris Geidner, Buzzfeed
- Andrew Kaczynki, emperor of political journalist twitter
- Evan McSan, I just assume that’s his name
- Benny Johnson, not as disgraced as one might think
- Ross Doubt That, NYT
- Nicholas Confessore, NYT
- Michael Barbaro, NYT
- Maggie Haberman, NYT
- Carl Hulse, NYT
- Carolyn Ryan, NYT
- Josh Barro, NYT
- John Harwood, NYT
- David Leonahrdt, NYT
- Dean Baquet, NYT
- James Goldston, ABC
- Deborah Turness, NBC
- Roger Ailes, Fox News
- Ezra Klein, vox
- Matt Yglasias, Ezra’s friend
- Lauren Williams, vox
- Dylan Matthews, vox
- Brian Stelter, CNN
- Nate Silver, 538
- Arianna Huffington, her website
- Sam Stein, HuffPo
- Amanda Terkel, HuffPo
- Paige Lavender, HuffPo
- Arthur Delaney, HuffPo
- Chris Hayes, MSNBC
- Ann Curry, many hats
- Paul Krugman, NYT
- Chris Cilizza, WAPO
- Eugene Robinson, WAPO
- Jonathan Capehart, eloquent
- Robert Costa, supreme information getter from the legislative righties
- Karen Tumulty, old school queen bee
- Dan Balz, WAPO
- Radley Balko, WAPO
- Jennifer Rubin, WAPO
- Dana Milbank, WAPO
- Daniel Drezner, knows things about zombies
- Aaron Blake, WAPO
- Ed O’keefe, WAPO
- Phillip Bump, WAPO
- David Nakamura, WAPO
- Zach Goldfarb, WAPO
- Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept
- Jeremy Scahill, The Intercept
- Mark Halperin, he invented the term gang of 500 so…
- John Heilimann, Bloomberg and writes books
- Sahil Kapur, Bloomberg
- Dave Weigel, journo-list
- Sasha Issenberg, Bloomberg
- Mark Knoller, CBS radio
- John Dickerson, masterful moderator
- Major Garrett, CBS
- David Rhodes, CBS
- Glenn Beck, blaze
- David Corn, Mother Jones
- Kevin Drum, Mother Jones
- Max Rosenthal, Mother Jones
- Matt Taibbi, many hats
- John Harris, Politico
- Jim vanDehei, Politico
- Mike Allen, Politico
- Carol Lee, WSJ
- John Bresnahan, Politico
- Michael Crowley, Politico
- Edward-isaac Dovere, Politico
- Michael Grunwald
- Blake Hounshell, Politico
- Michael Kruse
- David Rogers, Politico
- Roger Simon, Politico
- Ken Vogel, Politico
- Heather Haddon, WSJ
- Peter Nicholas, WSJ
- Peggy Noonan, WSJ
- Byron Tau, WSJ
- Beth Reinhard, WSJ
- Diane Dewhirst, aide to Pelosi
- Michael Bloomberg
- John Boehner, former Speaker
- Charles Koch, businessman
- Davic Koch, businessman
- Ben Bernanke, former fed chair
- Janet Yellen, Current fed chair
- Sheldon Adelson, influencer
- Stephen Colbert, influencer
- Elizabeth Warren, Senator
- Bill Burton, Priorities USA (pro Hillary)
- Cecile Richards, PP
- Bill Kristol, yeah I know
- Robert Kagan, Brookings
- Buck McKeon, U.S. House
- Robert Zoellick, many hats
- Jim Talent, AEI
- Richard Haas, CFR
- Dan Senor, Many hats
- Paul Gigot, WSJ
- Matt Drudge, I guess
- Mike Rogers, U.S. House
- Steven Hadley, think tanker
- David Frum, Daily Beast
- Michael Tomasky, The Daily Beast
- Betsy Woodruff, The Daily Beast
- Elanor Clift, The Daily Beast
- Olivia Nuzzi, The Daily Beast
- Sakky Kohn, The Daily Beast
- Noah Shachtman, Daily Beast
- John Avlon, Daily Beast
- Jessica Velenti, feministing
- Eric Alterman, The Nation
- Katrina Vanden Heuvel, The Nation
- Franklin Foer
- Steve Coll, The New Yorker
- Jonathan Chait, TNR
- Frank Rich, NYT
- Markos Moulitsas
- Fred Hiatt, WAPO
- David Shipley
- Cailin Flanagan, Atlantic
- TaNehisi Coates, Atlantic
- Glenn Reynolds, instapundit
- Michael Barone, Washington Examiner
- Caroline Baum, Bloomberg
- Erick Erickson, Red State
- Gerard Baker, WSJ
- James Taranto, ugh just ugh
- Michelle Malkin, twitchy
- Elliot Abrams, CFR
- Chris Bodenner, Atlantic
- Conor Freidersdorf, Atlantic
- Moly Ball, Atlantic
- Jeet Heer, TNR
- Suzy Khimm, TNR
- Brian Beutler, TNR
- Rebecca Leber, TNR
- Jack Fowler, NRO
- Larry Kudlow
- John Stossel
- Rich Lowrey, NRO
- Mark Seibel, McClatchey
- Thomas Ricks, writer
- Josh Marshall, TPM
- Annie Lowrey, NY MAG
- Alec Magillis, propublica
- Johnathan Allen, writer
- Ellie Hall, Buzzfeed
- Leigh Munsil, Blaze politics
- Clara Jeffrey, Mother Jones
- Josh Greenman, NY DAILY NEWS
- Phillip Rucker, Wapo
- Lisa Tozzi, Buzzfeed
- Eric Schultz, deputy WH press sec
- Matt Ford, Atlantic
- Dylan Byers, CNN
- Doug Stamper, he gets things done eventually
- Julie Pace, AP
- Josh Lederman, AP
- Sally Buzbee, AP
- David Scott, AP
- Steve Peoples, AP
- Ron Forunier, Green Lantern times
- Justin Miller, The Daily Beast
- Julia Loffe, NY TIMES MAG
- Tom Cole, U.S. House
- Jennifer Epstein, Bloomberg
- Garance Franke-ruta, Yahoo
- Hunter Walker, famous Trump questioner
- Adam Liptak NYT
- Jonathan Alter
- Micah Grimes, NBC Nightly News
- Will Cain, Pundit
- Duncan Atrios whatever his name is
- Glenn Kessler, checks facts
- Stu Rothenberg
- Norm Ornstein
- Charlie Cook
- Lanny Davis, come on you cant deny
- Sabrina Siddiqui, Guardian
- Andy Borowitz, I know
- Stephanie Cutter, Precision Strategies
- Kevin Madden
- Judd Legume, Think progress
- Jonathan Weisman, NYT
- Dee Dee Meyers, Glover Park Group
- Domenico Montanaro, NPR
- Phil Elliot, Time
- Michael Falcone, ABC
- Glenn Thrush, Politico
- Tom Beaumant, AP
- Greg Sargent
- Mike Memoli
- Charles Pierce, Esquire
- Mark Preston, CNN
- Betsy Fisher Martin
- John Geddes
- Rupert Murdoch
- Roger Wicker, NRSC Chair
- Andrea Bozek, NRSC Communications
- Michelle McGann, NRSC PAC director
- Rob Simms, NRCC Executive Director
- John Rogers, NRCC
- Jon Reedy, NRCC
- David Watts, NRCC
- Katie Martin Prill, NRCC Communications Director
- Dan Sena, DCCC
- Ty Matsdorf, DCCC
- Hayley Dierker, DCCC
- Brandon English, DCCC
- Kelly Ward, DCCC
- Tom Lopach, DSCC
- Preston Elliott, DSCC
- Justin Barasky, DSCC
- Sarah Amos, ABC producer
- Felicia Biberica, ABC producer
- Michelle Melnick, NBC news producer
- Janelle Richards, NBC news producer
- Steve Capus, CBS producer
- Scott Pelley, CBS
- Heather Abbott, CBS
- Maggie Dore, CBS
- Andrew Rosenthal, NYT
- John Reiss, MTP Producer
- Katie Hinman, State of the Union Producer
- Mary Hager, Face the Nation producer
- Jonathan Greenberger, This Week producer
- Charles Hurt, Drudge assistant
- Aaron Pickrell, Remington Road Group
- Bob Woodward
- Diane Sawyer
- Rob Hendin, CBS
- Peter Alexander, NBC
- Chris Jansing, NBC
- Peter Baker, NYT
- John Gizzi, Newsmax
- Steve Scully, CSPAN
- Brian Lamb, CSPAN
- Cicely Simpson, lobbyist
- Richard Umbdenstock, lobbyist
- David Melcher, lobbyist
- Wayne LaPierre, Lobbyist
- John Engler, lobbyist
- Kenneth Bentsen Jr., lobbyist
- Orrin Hatch, Senator
- Matt Borges, Ohio GOP Chair
- David Pepper, Ohio Democratic party chair
- Jeff Kaufmann, Iowa GOP Chair
- Andy McGuire, Iowa Democratic Party chair
- Jennifer Horn, New Hampshire GOP Chair
- Raymond Buckley, New Hampshire Dem party chair
- Anita Kumar, McClatchey
- Steven Thomma, McClatchy
- David M. McIntosh, Club for Growth President
- Stephanie Schriock, EMILY’s list
- Jennifer Korn, RNC
- Tom Bonier, Clarity Labs
- Brad Woodhouse, American Bridge
- Patrick Ruffini, Echelon Insights
- Casey Phillips, redprint
- Bruce Mentzer, ad mogul
- Patti Heck, Crossroads Media
- Jim Margolis, Consultant
- Raelynn Olson, Consultant
- Erich Fehrnstrom, Consultant
- Dan Rice, Consultant
- Dan Reber, direct mail
- Frank Greer, Conslultant
- Spencer Zwick, Consultant
- Charles Pruitt, AB Data
- Tony Feather, FLS
- Stu Stevens, rambler consulting
- Jonathan M. Baron, Red Sea LLC
- Mundy Katowitz, Advertising
- Greg Stevens, SRCP
- Erik Potholm, SRCP
- Angela McCann, mentzer Media
- Beth Beall, Mentzer Media
- Gary Taylor, Infocision
- Shane Hillmer, Consultant
- John Brabender, Conslutant
- Ron Rosenblath, Consultant
- David James, Consultant
- Joe Rospars
- Teddy Goff, Digital media
- Ben Burger, Consultant
- Robert Blizzard, Pollster
- Doug Thornell, SKDKnickerbocker
- Brad Todd, OnMessage
- Duane Baughman, consultant
- Anita Dunn, Knickerbocker
- Hilary Rosen, Knickerbocker
- Carter Eskew, Glover Park
- Chip Smith, Glover Park
- Joe Lockhart, Glover Park
- Tom Synhorst, Public relations
- James Carville, consultant
- David Axelrod, Consultant
- Dana Perino, pundit
- James Hoffa, Teamsters
- Mary Kay Henry, SEIU
- Lee Saunders, AFSCME
- Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO
- Michael Smerconish, pundit
- Tom Daschle, Daschle Group
- LOLGOP, a twitter on the twitters
- Melissa Clouthier, a twitter on the twitters
- Ben Domenech, Federalist
- Taegan Goddard, Political Wire
- Arthur C. Brooks, AEI
- Steve Ricchetti, Biden Chief of Staff
- Brian Deese, Advisor to Obama
- Lawrence Summers, total nerd
- Julian Castro, Secretary of HUD
- Sheldon Adelson, moneyman
- Tom Toles, cartoonist
- Rob Klein, Saturday Night Live head writer
- Christina Belantoni, LA Times
- Penny Pritzker, Secretary of Commerce
- Tess Kovach, K Street Hipster
- Zoe Barnes, WMATA ghost