Kausfiles
Kaus first wrote Slate's "Chatterbox" column in 1997 but started Kausfiles in 1999 as a private blog. It was perhaps the second major political blog in the United States (after Bob Somerby's The Daily Howler). In 2002, he returned to Slate at the invitation of editor Michael Kinsley. During 2003, the daily readership of Kausfiles varied between 15,000 and 30,000.
Stylistically the blog was most notable for its interior monologues including the ruse of a non-existent editor, as well as frequent, ironic exclamation points. Media critic James Wolcott, in his book Attack Poodles and Other Media Mutants, used Kaus as the archetypal example of a type of pundit he labels "counterintuitives". This type of pundit goes out of his way to stake out positions which run counter to conventional wisdom.
During the 2003 California recall, Kausfiles uncovered an interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger by Oui magazine in which he boasted of participating in group sex. This post sparked a series of claims of sexual misconduct during Schwarzenegger's bodybuilding and acting career. Kaus later posted about a 1981 Today Show appearance where Schwarzenegger claimed that he deliberately damaged chimneys in order to boost demand for his bricklaying business, which was another scoop.
During the 2004 U.S. presidential election, the blog displayed a strong and consistent distaste for John Kerry, despite the fact that Kaus endorsed Kerry and contributed to his campaign. Kausfiles has also consistently criticized the Los Angeles Times, Santa Monica radio station KCRW, media critic Howard Kurtz, and CNN President Jonathan Klein.
In 2007, Kaus reported from an anonymous source that candidate John Edwards was having an affair with documentarian Rielle Hunter. Edwards and Hunter both publicly denied this, and Kaus was widely criticized for what amounted to an assumption of guilt. Several bloggers of satiric bent spread intentionally ludicrous and offensive memes concerning Kaus and a supposed predilection for goats, (which of course cannot be true, because goats demonstrate more common sense than Kaus has since his failed run for the US Senate seat from California) to illustrate that an assumption of guilt can be unfairly hard to disprove. It later turned out that the rumors regarding Edwards were true.
The blog also commented on the automotive industry and Kaus irregularly filed automotive-centric "Gearbox" columns on Slate.
As a result of his 2010 run for the Senate, Kaus left Slate and hosted his blog on his campaign website. On September 20, 2010, the Kausfiles blog was relaunched at Newsweek. Kaus recently left Newsweek and now blogs at the Daily Caller.
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