Welcome to TNR’s 2011 List Issue. In putting the issue together, we had one major priority: to avoid creating a power list featuring anyone who regularly dominates headlines. Instead, we had a different idea: What if we revealed something about D.C. by documenting who quietly wields power? From there, we began to hatch other ideas for lists, and we realized that—while they can certainly be cheap gimmicks—lists can also convey a lot about a city.

Below is the first list from the issue: Washington’s most powerful, least famous people. We’ll feature the other nine lists at TNR Online in the days to come.

ROBERT ALLBRITTON

Publisher of Politico

The day after the 2011 White House Correspondents’ dinner, Robert Allbritton hosted brunch at his $24 million Georgetown home. On the 250-person guest list? Valerie Jarrett, Janet Napolitano, and Rick Perry. But Allbritton’s real influence doesn’t come from his VIP-laden parties; as chairman and chief executive of Allbritton Communications, the fortysomething presides over a mini-media empire, owning a handful of TV stations and—most importantly—Politico, the obsessive-compulsive news organization that has changed journalism in D.C. since its launch in 2007. A banking scion (his father owned Riggs Bank, a D.C. institution that handled the finances of embassies, as well as the Washington Star), Allbritton was always more interested in the media side of things. At 25, his father placed him in charge of Allbritton Communications, which he expanded by buying a number of TV stations. After an unsuccessful run as Riggs CEO in the early 2000s (the bank was under federal investigation for ties to Augusto Pinochet and was eventually sold to PNC), Allbritton went back into the news business and founded Politico. Though his efforts to monopolize Washington journalism haven’t been entirely successful (TBD, his hyper-local news site, laid off half its editorial staff after just six months), Allbritton has reshaped the way we follow politics.



ASHTON CARTER

Deputy Secretary of Defense