The name Mike Allen is synonymous with Washington D.C. insider. The chief political reporter for Politico was recently featured in a New York Times magazine article entitled “The Man the White House Wakes Up To.” And now Allen’s daily “playbook,” considered a must-read for political junkies across the nation, is available in iPhone app form.
The playbook is best described as a political diary filled with tidbits and musings about the halls of federal government and the men and women who fill them. Topics include everything from resignations and appointments, to the latest Sarah Palin news.
Interested in following the career of this candidate or that political advisor? Allen tracks the professional climbing and dramatic falls of the political ambitious.
There are lots of notes about interesting aspects of campaigns not always covered by mainstream media, such as political ads and campaign miscues. Allen also includes plenty of interesting interviews with other publications, such as a Barak Obama interview with Rolling Stone magazine.
Allen does a good job of taking the stuffiness out of some of government’s top-ranking officials. He uses nicknames to refer to a lot of the top dogs, referring to Obama advisor David Axelrod as “Axe,” for example.
Unlike the web version, however, the app does not have the audio feature wherein the playbook entry is read aloud.
