WH reporters jockeying for Helen Thomas's chair

The White House Correspondents Association meets this weekend to determine who'll fill the front-row vacancy that opened after Helen Thomas resigned. Recently, Fox News, Bloomberg News, and NPR have all sent letters to the board arguing why they deserve to move up. There's speculation among White House reporters that the front-row-center seat Thomas long held may be awarded to none of them. Instead, the Associated Press — which typically gets the first question at presidential news conferences — could move to the center, with another news organization, like one of those three, taking its place. Several news organizations that have scaled back in recent years are petitioning to keep their seats, including Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, the Christian Science Monitor, the Washington Times, the Boston Globe and the Baltimore Sun. Several outlets now regularly covering the White House — such as the Financial Times, Fox Business, Al Jazeera, Reuters TV, Essence, and Talking Points Memo — are all vying for their own permanent place in the room.