Top 5 Political Blogs for Blowing Off Work

Best for staying way, way ahead of CNN: talkingpointsmemo.com (opens in new tab)

Ringmaster Josh Marshall breaks stories weeks before the "MSM" (that's the mainstream media to the rest of us).

Best issue papers for the Beltway novice: offthebus.net (opens in new tab)

This offbeat offshoot of the Huffington Post earns its K Street cred with an army of citizen journalists covering campaign '08 from the ground up.

Best for obsessives: politico.com (opens in new tab)

Politics junkies freebase here all day long, getting their fixes of constantly updated news nuggets and insight; people with lives use it as their all-in-one political multivitamin.

Best for feeling like an insider: abcnews.go.com/politics/thenote (opens in new tab)

Reading the comments section of this daily-updated news blog is like having a (legal) wiretap on D.C.'s chattering class.

Best for gossip: wonkette.com (opens in new tab)

We're sure there are more important stories than who's canoodling with whom at the bar at the Hilton in Columbia. We just can't think of any right now.