Top 5 Political Blogs for Blowing Off Work

Best for staying way, way ahead of CNN: talkingpointsmemo.com

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

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

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

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

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.