I Want Lon Anderson's Job

Is there a flack in DC who has a better gig than Lon Anderson, spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic? Lon is the go-to quotemeister for reporters who have to write the dreaded traffic stories. Lon is typically quite prolific around the big travel holidays - Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. Sometimes he's talking about AAA's regular studies about how many people are traveling during holiday weekends; other times he's just opining about just how bad traffic really is.

Lon's appearance in today's Wash Post A1 piece on how bad traffic was yesterday is also a reminder of the fact that Post Publisher Don Graham L-O-V-E-S traffic stories:

"We don't have enough capacity when everything is working," said Lon Anderson, spokesman for AAA Mid-Atlantic. "Today is a great example of how bad things can be when everything is not working."

I recall a piece several years ago where Graham said that he views the Post's competition not as the New York Times, but as the smaller suburban papers in the DC area. For that reason, he loves putting local interest pieces on the front page - particularly weather, traffic, Metro and Redskins stories. Basically, the kind of stories the Times would never put on the front page.

And when it comes time for a Postie to write one of these stories, it surely comforts them to know that Lon will be there with a handy quote. Lon, when you're ready to move on to the next gig, gimme a call, okay?