The Hotline

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The Hotline is a daily political briefing published by the National Journal from its headquarters at The Watergate complex in Washington, DC. It is edited by Amy Walter with John Mercurio. The Hotline was founded by Doug Bailey and published independently until its acquisition in 1996.

The Hotline's primary audience includes Congressional staffers, political operatives and pundits. It intends to be a comprehensive, non-partisan digest of that day's political events relating to upcoming statewide and national elections. Its primary publication, The Hotline, is published daily, condensing newspaper, magazine and Internet political coverage from the previous 24 hours. Its headlines are irreverent, relying on puns and inside jokes.

Related publications of The Hotline include House Race Hotline, published daily during election years, the influential breaking news blog Hotline On Call and The Blogometer. The Hotline also produces a subscriber-only morning round-up of the previous evening's late-night political jokes, "Play of the Day," and a video podcast/online television show, Hotline TV. Two of its most popular features are subscription-based morning and afternoon tip sheets Wake-Up Call and Last Call. In 2007 it debuted the Hotline Political Network, featuring political reporting from affiliated state-based blogs and news organizations.

Previous editors include NBC News political director Chuck Todd and Congressional Quarterly columnist Craig Crawford.