Editing Josh Marshall (section)

===History===
[[File:Josh Marshall (506434140).jpg|thumb|Marshall at the Personal Democracy Forum in May 2007]]
Inspired by political bloggers such as [[Mickey Kaus]] and [[Andrew Sullivan]], Marshall started ''Talking Points Memo'' during the 2000 [[Florida election recount]]. "I really liked what seemed to me to be the freedom of expression of this genre of writing," Marshall told the ''Columbia Journalism Review''. "And, obviously, given the issues that I had with the ''Prospect'', that appealed to me a lot."<ref name='cjr-josh-marshall-plan'/>

He left his job at the ''Prospect'' early in 2001<ref name='cjr-josh-marshall-plan'/> and continued to blog while writing for ''[[The Washington Monthly]]'', ''[[The Atlantic]]'', ''[[The New Yorker]]'',<ref name="nytimes-fear-and-laptops"/> ''[[Salon.com]]'', and the ''[[New York Post]]''.<ref name='cjr-josh-marshall-plan'/> In 2002, Marshall used ''Talking Points Memo'' to report on [[Trent Lott|Trent Lott's]] [[Trent Lott#Resignation from Senate leadership|controversial comments]] praising [[Strom Thurmond|Strom Thurmond's]] 1948 presidential run as a [[racial segregation|segregationist]].<ref name='latimes-blogs-can-top-the-presses'/> According to [[Harvard Kennedy School]], Marshall was instrumental in fueling the ensuing scandal that eventually led to Trent Lott's resignation as [[Senate Minority Leader]].<ref name="nytimes-fear-and-laptops"/>

As a result of the Lott story, traffic to ''Talking Points Memo'' spiked from 8,000 to 20,000 [[page view]]s a day.<ref name='cjr-josh-marshall-plan'/> In the fall of 2003, as people focused on the failure to find [[Weapon of mass destruction|WMD's]] in [[2003 invasion of Iraq|Iraq]], there was a new surge of traffic to the site; "I remember there being peak days of 60,000-page views, which was really incredible."<ref name=nytimes-blogger-prize/> Marshall started selling ads on his site and by the end of 2004 was earning $10,000 a month,<ref name='cjr-josh-marshall-plan'/> making him one of a handful of what ''The New York Times Magazine'' dubbed "elite bloggers" who earned enough money to make blogging a full-time occupation.<ref name="nytimes-fear-and-laptops"/>

During the 2008 US election campaign, many independent news sites and political blogs saw a wave of "explosive growth".<ref name='comscore-explosive-growth'>{{Cite news
 |url          = http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2525
 |publisher    = [[comScore]]
 |title        = Huffington Post and Politico Lead Wave of Explosive Growth at Independent Political Blogs and News Sites this Election Season
 |date         = October 22, 2008
|access-date   = October 26, 2008
|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20081218000149/http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2525
 |archive-date = December 18, 2008
|url-status     = dead
 |df           = mdy-all
}}</ref> ''Talking Points Memo'' experienced the largest surge in traffic,<ref name='wsj-huffpo-beats-drudge'>{{Cite news
| url=https://blogs.wsj.com/biztech/2008/10/23/huffpo-beats-drudge/
| publisher=[[Wall Street Journal]]
| title=HuffPo Beats Drudge
| last=LaVallee
| first=Andrew
| date=October 23, 2008
| access-date=October 31, 2008}}</ref> growing from 32,000 [[unique visitor]]s in September 2007 to 458,000 unique visitors in September 2008,<ref name='mediapost-political-sites'>{{Cite news
 |url         = http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=93246
 |publisher   = MediaPost
 |title       = Huffington Post, Politico Top Political Sites
 |last        = Walsh
 |first       = Mark
 |date        = October 23, 2008
|access-date  = October 26, 2008
|url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20120603125014/http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=93246
 |archive-date = June 3, 2012
|df          = mdy-all
}}</ref> a 1,321% year-to-year increase in the size of its audience.<ref name='portfolio-lefty-sites'>{{Cite news
| url=http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/mixed-media/2008/10/22/comscore-lefty-sites-making-huge-traffic-gains
| publisher=[[Condé Nast Portfolio]]
| title=ComScore: Lefty Sites Making Huge Traffic Gains
| last=Bercovici
| first=Jeff
| date=October 22, 2008
| access-date=October 26, 2008}}</ref>