Making the Leap in Business News

Whatever her achievements, one critic is difficult to please. After Claman covered Barack Obama in Chicago on election night, her mother -- a London-trained theater actress -- wrote her: "You were wonderful . . . for the most part."

"I could be at the mouth of Osama bin Laden's cave and she would say, 'You talked with your hands; don't do that,' " Claman says.

Mystery Web Site

Greg Sargent, a liberal blogger at TalkingPointsMemo.com -- who has whacked The Washington Post on occasion -- kicked up a fuss in the blogosphere over the weekend by announcing that he's leaving to blog for . . . The Post.

Sargent relentlessly defended Hillary Clinton against what he called unfair coverage and attacked the right's "wingnut slime machine." One posting was titled "Washington Post Takes Cues From Drudge, Runs Awful Photo Of Hillary's Wrinkles." In a typical slap, the Weekly Standard's Michael Goldfarb, a former John McCain spokesman, wrote: "Sargent is an unrepentant Democratic partisan, which means he should fit in well with the staff at The Post, but also a top notch reporter."

But it turns out Sargent isn't moving to the paper's Web site, washingtonpost.com. Instead, he is joining a new site being launched by The Post Co., according to a person familiar with the site. That person, who asked not to be identified because no official announcement has been made, says Sargent is being tapped as a reporter to write a newsy blog that is not ideological, along with a variety of contributors.

The site, to be called WhoRunsGov, will focus in part on profiles of government decision-makers, the source said. It is expected to launch during inauguration week.

Precious Real Estate

The New York Times, which recently mortgaged its headquarters, must be in a tighter cash squeeze than anyone realized. Today's front page features a six-column color ad for CBS, stripped across the bottom, the first time in modern history that the paper has sold such prominent space.

Foreign Makeover

Foreign Policy relaunches on the Web today, and it looks very different than the sober, authoritative and slightly stuffy magazine of the past.

The Post Co. bought Foreign Policy in September, and the new editor, Susan Glasser, is recasting it as a daily online publication. The role marks a comeback for Glasser, who was a successful Outlook editor but was replaced last year as The Post's assistant managing editor for national news.