The Gossip Pages: Who Wrote it Best?

The non-endorsement of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney by rapper Nicki Minaj was picked up by Washington's famed gossip pages such as Washington Examiner's Yeas & Nays, Politico CLICK and The Hill's In the Know. So who wrote it best? Some background: Last week a song by rapper Lil' Wayne made its way online, featuring a verse by Minaj. "I'm a Republican voting for Mitt Romney/You lazy b*tches is f***ing up the economy," Minaj raps. It was reported (with some skepticism) as an unlikely endorsement of Romney. President Obama was asked about the possible endorsement in a radio interview. "I'm not sure that's actually what happened,," Obama said. "She likes to play different characters." Minaj wrote on Twitter that same day, "Thank you for understanding my creative humor & sarcasm Mr. President... *sends love & support*" CLICK- Caitlin McDevitt had her writeup published first. She was not, however, the first reporter on her own site to break the news. She picked it up from her colleague Byron Tau who writes for the Politico 44 blog. The lede: "Nicki Minaj was being sarcastic when she rapped about voting for Mitt Romney, POLITICO 44 reports." Yeas & Nays- The Examiner's Jenny Rogers had her item on the story up three hours later. We like the conversational lede ("OK, so maybe Nicki Minaj didn't endorse the Romney-Ryan ticket after all"). In the Know- Last to the ball was The Hill's writeup by Jonathan Easley. It was published nearly five hours after CLICK's, one and a half after Yeas & Nays'. But there's an extra bit of information on Minaj added to The Hill's writeup. We learn here that Minaj is "rumored to be a new judge on American Idol." What's more, when Easley tweeted out the link to his story, he included lyrics to the song "Monster" which also features Minaj. "Nicki Minaj finally puts Romney endorsement flap to bed," Easley wrote. "Also, her money so tall that her body gotta climb it." The tweet was retweeted 22 times and favorited twice. He tells us, however, that he's not really a big fan. "The primary reason I know her stuff is because I'm a big Kanye West fan," he said. "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is one of my favorite albums, and Minaj absolutely killed it on that 'Monster' track." Winner: Easley's lede could have used a little punch ("Rapper Nicki Minaj on Monday ended the dispute over whether she endorsed Mitt Romney in a song released last week") but for demonstrating prowess on the subject of Minaj, we conclude that Easley wrote it best.

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The Gossip Pages: Who Wrote it Best?

Eddie Scarry

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Eddie Scarry