But some MWO followers have not managed to remain so hidden. Last month, MWO launched a new offensive against an old target, Post reporter Susan Schmidt, whom they (along with other media critics who use their names) thought covered the investigations against the Clintons with particularly partisan relish. They dubbed her "Steno Sue," labeling her a stenographer for Independent Counsel Ken Starr, and launched an e-mail campaign. Several of the site's readers sent Schmidt angry e-mails.

But instead of engaging them as Brown did, Schmidt sought vengeance. After figuring out where two of the e-mails originated from, Schmidt contacted the senders' respective employers. A small media hoopla ensued; Washington Post ombudsman Michael Getler confirmed to the American Prospect that Schmidt did, indeed, contact the employers and was "told not to do it again."

But those two were mere foot soldiers in MWO's war, and the incident only helped to spur on the guessing game of who was really the person behind the curtain, sending directives and choosing new targets. Certainly there's a level of sophistication to those decisions -- choosing fairly obscure targets of derision, like Schmidt, for example, loathed only by near-professional Clinton defenders. And that's got Beltway observers convinced a political professional is somehow involved.

"I don't know who is writing and funding Media Whores Online, but I bet you 20 bucks I know them," said CNN's Carlson. In the wee morning hours following the White House Correspondents dinner in early May, Carlson even cornered Joe Conason, columnist for Salon and the New York Observer, and asked if he was behind the site. Conason denied it, and says he would never write anonymously.

Although, Conason adds, "Their worldview is not that different from mine."

Conason, and his coauthor of "The Hunting of the President: The Ten-Year Campaign to Destroy Bill and Hillary Clinton," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette author Gene Lyons, are listed in MWO's list of "Media in Exile," a group that it deems "upholds the standards of professionalism in journalism." Both are frequently showered with praise, as are Nation writer Eric Alterman and Begala, among others. Conason and Lyons both say they have no idea who is behind the site.

"Clearly they overvalue Joe's and my writing," Lyons said. "I keep thinking, don't they ever disagree with me? What do I have to do to get them to disagree with me?" Its "A-list Whore Roster" is dominated by conservative columnists such as the New York Times' William Safire, the National Review's Jonah Goldberg and Fox News' Sean Hannity. But it also likes to single out some comparatively liberal commentators -- including MSNBC's Chris Matthews, Fox's Geraldo Rivera and the Nation's Christopher Hitchens -- who dare to stray from the party line. The list changes constantly, as readers submit their own nominees. (Last week featured two targets not normally considered right-wing whores, the New York Times' Nicholas Kristof and CSPAN's Brian Lamb.)

Among the site's many acolytes, there seems to be only a passing curiosity about who might be in charge. I spoke with seven former and current contributors. They are a tiny sample of MWO's core disciples, those whom the blog originally intended to serve, the editors stated. In return, they are fiercely loyal to the site. Only four shared a curiosity about the site's founders and editors, and most said they could abide the site's continued anonymity. A few said they believed the site was started by someone not unlike themselves, someone with a day job or, perhaps, a family, who just got fed up.

"You definitely get the impression that she's just an angry citizen, like the rest of us," said Christian Livemore of Savannah, Ga., who contributes to both Media Whores Online and, more frequently, to Bartcop.

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