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Drudge Report Gets Over 1 BILLION HITS in Past Year

OVER 1 BILLION SERVED IN PAST YEAR: The WALL STREET JOURNAL declared "Matt Drudge a born loser" [10/24/00, Shafer], the NEW YORK TIMES last week in a Page One story claimed people have been "reduced to logging onto the Web site of the gossip columnist Matt Drudge" [11/06/02, Stanley], but in every state and nearly every civilized nation in the developed world, readers know where to go for action and reaction of news -- at least one day ahead. Sometime this afternoon, the DRUDGEREPORT will pass one billion views of the site's main page: in the past year! Free from any corporate concerns, there are simply too many to thank since the site's inception in 1994. This new attempt at the old American experiment of full freedom in reporting is ever exciting. Those in power have everything to lose by individuals who march to their own rules...

Inside Politics
Greg Pierce

     Over 1 billion served
     He was first to report President Clinton's dalliance with a certain White House intern, and his Web site is a daily must-see for about 4 million people — including many top Washington reporters.
     After Voter News Service announced last week that computers had scrambled its exit-poll data, election night found many journalists "reduced to logging onto the Web site of the gossip columnist Matt Drudge" to get results, according to the New York Times.
     Though the Wall Street Journal has called him "a born loser," Mr. Drudge keeps succeeding. His Web site, www.drudgereport.com, crossed a landmark yesterday by racking up its 1 billionth — that's billion with a "b" — visitor this year.
     "In every state and nearly every civilized nation in the developed world, readers know where to go for action and reaction of news — at least one day ahead," Mr. Drudge announced yesterday. "Those in power have everything to lose by individuals who march to their own rules."
     A 1984 graduate of Montgomery Blair High School, Mr. Drudge got his start in the news business delivering the old Washington Star. He moved to California, and later began his Web site with a $1,500 Packard Bell computer his father had bought him. He got national attention in 1996, when he was the first to report that Jack Kemp would be Republican Bob Dole's vice presidential running mate.