At Tuesday’s White House briefing, I asked Robert Gibbs to square Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s remarks to National Journal’s Major Garrett that “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president” with the President’s hope that Republicans will work with him after the midterms. Gibbs’ answer, while [...]

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell‘s remarkably honest confession to National Journal‘s Major Garrett that “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president” got kicked around at length during Tuesday’s White House briefing. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs‘ responses seemed designed to shame the opposition into post-midterm cooperation, but several reporters, myself included, wondered from whence this  hope sprang. The voters seem poised to reward McConnell’s party for two years of obstruction, so what is their incentive to do anything differently?

MSNBC’s Morning Joe welcomed National Journal Executive Editor Ron Brownstein and NJ correspondent Major Garrett this morning, the day the magazine and web site relaunched.

Of course, Garrett on Morning Joe is the headline – and he spent the first eight minutes talking about Fox News’ Juan Williams, offering a unique perspective.

As the White House correspondent for Fox News, Major Garrett received nothing but high marks and respect from his peers. The likable reporter seemed beyond content in the highly visible job, which made it all the more surprising when news broke rather quickly, that Garrett was leaving the highest rated cable news outlet to return to his print roots at the National Journal. Perhaps even more surprising is seeing Garrett as a guest on FNC competitor MSNBC, just weeks after telling Mediaite that he had “no interest in being on television simply to be on television.”

Megyn Kelly was supposed to discuss the national economy with Major Garrett today, but, after talking about it all day, decided to forego the topic. Instead, Kelly and Garrett had a heartwarming exchange in honor of Garrett’s last day at Fox News where we learn, among other things, that Garrett “isn’t exactly a clean freak.”

Fox News White House correspondent Major Garrett is leaving Fox News Friday, and starting at National Journal later this month.

In an exit interview of sorts on Twitter last night, Garrett addressed many outstanding issues that have been raised by his followers.

National Journal Group has had a busy few weeks: as they gear up for their October relaunch, the publisher of National Journal, The Hotline, and Congress Daily has been building an impressive portfolio of some of DC’s top reporting talent. The rapid hiring — and poaching — spree of some of Washington’s best journalist talent has caught many by surprise over the past couple of weeks.

Major Garrett will be leaving Fox News for National Journal – a surprising move from TV to print.

We talked to Garrett today about the reason for his decision, what impact the White House vs. Fox News battle had, what his new Twitter handle will be and more.

Shortly after he announced his departure from Fox News, Mediaite talked to Major Garrett today about leaving Fox News for the National Journal. Garrett spoke to us about switching his beat, what his Twitter handle will become, and more. Here are some highlights.

Last night, an excited Bill O’Reilly did some daydreaming aloud on The Factor about “tying up” Fox News’ White House correspondent Major Garrett up and rotating use of his front-row White House Press Corps seat with Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck. With some in the media squirming in their seats about the possibility of a Beck/Hannity shouting match in the briefing room, O’Reilly’s executive producer felt the need to speak out today to clarify.

There are some liberals who are freaking out about Fox News’ move to the front row of the Brady Briefing Room. Not helping matters was Bill O’Reilly‘s joking suggestion that he and Sean Hannity “hog-tie” Major Garrett and go tête-à-tête with Robert Gibbs themselves.

If it helps at all, I can personally vouch for the fact that nothing like this will ever happen. But even if it did, I don’t think it’d be such a bad thing.

It may sound corny to some, but Helen Thomas is never very far a way from my thoughts, but the occasion of the White House Correspondents Association’s re-assignment of her iconic front-row center seat in the Brady Briefing Room provided me with the impetus to speak with Helen for the first time since her controversial retirement. I called her this afternoon to reconnect, and to get her reaction to the news. I was surprised to learn that my call was the first she’d heard of it. Her reaction, and those of some of our colleagues, after the jump.

After falling prey to a particularly adept Robert Gibbs Jedi mind trick last week, CNSNews reporter Fred Lucas waded into the fray again at yesterday’s briefing. This time, in quizzing Gibbs on the recess appointment of Donald Berwick, Lucas formed a tag-team with Human Events’ John Gizzi, but he ignored the advice I gave him last week: “Next time Gibbs asks you a question, say ‘No comment!’”

Former President Bill Clinton‘s endorsement of Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff took the White House by surprise, as President Obama had already endorsed the incumbent, Sen. Michael Bennet. Asked about the White House’s comfort level with the decision, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs noted that Clinton’s “relationships” led him to make decisions and, if given the choice, he’d rather find out about these endorsements before the press does.

In the wake of Helen Thomas‘ untimely retirement, immediate speculation on who would get her front row-center seat quickly turned into (non-gleeful) consensus that it would be Fox News. This didn’t sit very well with liberal media watchdog Media Matters. Ironically, though, their faint damnation of Fox News Chief White House Correspondent Major Garrett actually undercuts their larger point about Fox News.

Throughout this year, Mediaite’s Tommy Christopher has been turning the tables on White House reporters, putting them in the hot seat for his Inside the White House Press Corps interview series. We thought it was time he got a taste of his own medicine, so we enlisted a White House correspondent we’ll call Reporter X to fire a fresh batch of questions at him.

FNC’s Major Garrett will get a chance to host FOX News Sunday July 4, according to Real Clear Politics.

It will mark a big step up for the White House correspondent, filling in as host of a Sunday show competing with his briefing room colleague, Jake Tapper.

The Helen Thomas controversy rages on. Less than a week after a video of the legendary White House correspondent saying she thought the Jews should “get the hell out of Palestine” and go back to Germany and Poland the debate has recently turned from who will get Thomas’ much coveted White House press briefing room seat to whether the “Helen Thomas” nameplate on the seat should be removed.

When I first saw Lloyd Grove‘s version of the now-annual effort to autopsy the White House press corps, I rolled my eyes in agreement with Glynnis MacNicol.

Then, I noticed that not one of the 3 C-Spans, nor any other news outlet, carried yesterday’s briefing. Heh, neat coincidence. No biggie. The timing’s a little weird, but these things happen.

Still, before this gains any more traction, allow me to make the case for the press corps to the writer of next year’s “Press Corpse” piece, and anyone else who’s interested.

Which journalists had lunch with Pres. Barack Obama today?

We’re still looking into it, but we can confirm Fox News’ Major Garrett, CBS’ Katie Couric and we’ve heard Brian Williams from NBC as well. When will we get more details about the journalist-White House lunch date?

Fox News Channel Senior White House Correspondent Major Garrett has thus far eluded the Inside the White House Press Corps hot seat (although he makes a cameo in my Ed Henry interview), but that oversight has been rendered moot. For about 3 hours last night, Major fielded questions from across the Twitterverse, and the result [...]

Fox News White House Correspondent Major Garrett was trying to tweet his followers a link to his FoxNews.com blog with some State of the Union excerpts prior to the speech last night.

Instead he tweeted a link for hookers in Vegas. It’s just one example of the dangers of URL-shortening.

The sparks kicked up by C-Span’s request to televise healthcare negotiations have erupted into a firestorm, as White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was grilled about the President’s campaign promise of complete transparency, and responded testily. CNN’s Jack Cafferty delivered a stinging j’accuse to President Obama, calling the pledge a “lie just to get elected.”

It’s the end of the year, the time for handy lists and timelines recapping the touchstones of the past 12 months, freezing them in our ever-shortening collective memory.

Of course, some people just have to be different. Mediaite contributor and White House reporter Tommy Christopher pulls back the curtain on covering politics in 2009, and shares photos and videos that have never been seen before. Find out who the Secret Service did manage to keep out of the White House, what Joe Biden told his young mentorees, and much more.

Just this week the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), which runs the White House pool has started letting Talking Points Memo, Salon, and the HuffPo in to share the pool duty. A number of establishment people are up in arms about “blurring the line between news and punditry even further.” Should we be worried the inmates are taking over the (clubby) asylum?