National political correspondent and University of Wisconsin Oshkosh alumnus Jim VandeHei will share his perspectives on the upcoming presidential election during the UW Oshkosh Foundation Report to the Community Breakfast 7-9 a.m. Sept. 16.
VandeHei, a 1994 graduate, is one of the co-founders of Politico.com. He left The Washington Post, where he was national political reporter, to join forces with John F. Harris (his former boss at the Post) and the finest collection of journalists around to attempt to create a new and exciting way of delivering political news. He serves as the executive editor.
VandeHei became hooked on journalism after covering sports for his hometown newspaper and running the Brillion News, a Wisconsin weekly, in the summer of 1993. After graduating from college, VandeHei packed up his car and headed to Washington, D.C., on Valentine’s Day 1995. After a short stint with a leaflet publication called New Fuels Report, he got his start in political journalism at the now-defunct Inside the New Congress, working alongside John Bresnahan (now the congressional bureau chief for Politico) and Charlie Mitchell (now a top editor at Roll Call newspaper).
Jim soon moved to Roll Call, where he covered the new GOP majority. His next stop was The Wall Street Journal, where he covered Congress and the White House. Finally, he landed at The Washington Post in 2002, where he covered Congress, the 2004 campaign, the White House and, ultimately, politics.
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