For some, Mr. Barbaro’s interest in the personalities and psychology behind the politics adds a welcome dimension of drama to the beat.
“One thing I always liked about Michael was that he salivated over the gossipy aspects of the story,” said Jeffrey Simmons, former mayoral campaign manager to Bill Thompson.
Mr. Barbaro wrote a gossipy, though well-reported, article about Mr. Simmons’ client—a humiliating record of the Thompson campaign’s logistical incompetence. Despite the lack of organization, Mr. Thompson came much closer to winning than the Times predicted he would. Mr. Thompson did not give the Times a post-election interview.
Nonetheless, Mr. Simmons and Mr. Barbaro remain friends.
One former City Hall staffer attributed the Barbaro take to his cynicism about the motivations of politicians. “Sometimes there is no back story,” the person said.
And in a town as small as New York, intimate psychological portraiture can be perilous.
On one occasion, Mr. Barbaro found himself too deep inside Speaker of the House Christine Quinn’s head, when he overheard the council speaker having a private conversation in City Hall. When Ms. Quinn’s camp was informed that the quote would run, they were irate. One staffer called the Times and demanded Mr. Barbaro’s firing, according to a source.
“We overheard the speaker, who is no shrinking violet, saying something colorful,” Ms. Ryan explained to The Observer. “After a lengthy and thoughtful internal discussion, we decided it would not be appropriate to put in the paper. So we didn’t.”
Mr. Barbaro has the traits of the consummate Timesman, bound for the masthead. But he also represents a new model, or perhaps one that’s become more visible to outsiders due to the X-ray effects of social media. Where an earlier generation of New York Times reporters feared the attention of Gawker, for Mr. Barbaro treats the Internet as a forum for the semi-public defense of paper. Like fellow Times bulldog David Carr, Mr. Barbaro broadcasts a commitment to the institution that seems deeper than a paycheck.
For instance, his Twitter feed betrays a fierce, if one-sided competitiveness with the Wall Street Journal city politics team.
When the Journal wrote about Anthony Weiner’s resignation without mentioning that the Times broke it first, Mr. Barbaro sent out a tweet that made it clear he was keeping score: “For second time in two weeks, WSJ borrows NYT reporting on Weiner without attribution, ending era of courtesy.”
According to other politics reporters friendly with Mr. Barbaro, his gchat statuses poke fun at other news outlets, too.
Mr. Barbaro even counts NYTpicker, an anonymous blog for Times gossip and mockery, among his rivals. Last year he sent them an e-mail: “I really do think that the biggest scandal of your blog is that you somehow find fault with a deeply reported paper that comes out every day—and online, every hour—while you post items once every, well, never.”
The boys on the bus have no idea what they’re in for.
