Media feeding frenzy goes literal, thanks to Baucus

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has gone out of his way to avoid feeding any news on healthcare to the reporters loitering outside his office. Donuts and coffee? Another story.

The media horde has been camped out in the halls near Baucus’s Hart office building digs for weeks during his endless meeting with members of his committee as they try to work out a deal on healthcare reform. Passersby from senators to staff to lobbyists to constituents do double-takes as they pass by.

The senator and his staff have been oddly accommodating. In similar situations, other lawmakers send out aides or even police to make the press keep their distance. But not at the Baucus stake outs: Chairs appeared last week to spare the press from the indignity of sitting on the floor in business attire, and the Senate-wide wi-fi is a big help to reporters sending in their meager dispatches from the healthcare meetings. But Baucus aides delivering cartons of donuts and coffee? That takes the cake.

–Jeffrey Young