Who's got the answer about the president? CBS's Mark Knoller does...

CBS's Mark Knoller is the subject of a nice write-up in the Washingtonian.com. Shane Harris has the byline with the story of the reporter that the reporters go to for details about the President. Knoller tracks stuff no one else does including the White House itself.

An excerpt:

“Mark, when was President Obama’s last full news conference?” asks a reporter from Reuters who, apparently on deadline, has just popped into the cramped press booth Mark Knoller shares with two colleagues from CBS News in the back of the White House Press Room.

“March 6, 2012,” Knoller says without looking up from his computer screen as he updates his Twitter feed. “It was 44 minutes long. It was in the briefing room.”

Knoller explains that although Obama held his first post-election news conference this afternoon, November 14, none of his interactions with reporters since March 6 count as a full-on news conference. They can only be described as limited question periods, unscheduled appearances in the briefing room, or impromptu exchanges. The Reuters reporter doesn’t ask, but Knoller could tell him exactly how many of those there were.

“Okay, March 6,” the reporter says. “That’s what we’ll go with. We’re counting on you.”

I turn to Knoller, who is typing a tweet while listening to three evening news broadcasts from a bank of TVs above his desk. “Do you get a lot of questions like that?” I ask.

He chuckles softly and shrugs, as if to say, “You think anyone else keeps track of this stuff?”

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Click here to read the entire article...

Source: 

http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/people/whos-counting-at-the-white-house-mark-knoller-is/