Arianna Huffington isn't happy with the sort of political coverage in which reporters act as "stenographer[s] to the campaign[s]" and "the conventional wisdom gets passed around like a joint at a Grateful Dead concert." As a result, she and her lefty blog site, the Huffington Post, are collaborating with liberal NYU professor Jay Rosen on Off the Bus.net, which Arianna describes as an "exciting new citizen journalism project" that will look at the '08 presidential campaign "from a wide range of different angles and perspectives."

That nod to diversity aside, it's almost certain that OTB will lean left, as the recent hiring of Amanda Michel to run the project would seem to indicate. During the 2004 presidential campaign, Michel worked for Howard Dean and then for John Kerry.

Another new hire, Zack Exley, will serve as an advisor to and roving correspondent for OTB. Like Michel, in '04 Exley worked for the Dean and Kerry campaigns; previously, he'd operated the parody web site GWBush.com, which, the Village Voice reported in 2000, was "decorated with (supposedly) doctored photos of Dubya indulging in a certain white powder."

We'll find out soon if Exley-style humor is considered a valid angle or perspective for OTB, which is scheduled to launch in mid-July.