The editors of The Atlantic, which already has one of the best opinion sites on the web, have just launched an aggregator site that gathers commentary on breaking news topics. The site also keeps a running stream of content from the 50 pundits they currently deem to be the most influential to the national discourse. These men and women are also ranked by a variety of movable metrics (and, scanning the list, it's a lot more sensical than the similarly conceived, but broader, Mediaite "Power Grid"). Their own Andrew Sullivan, notably, is the only blogger to break the top ten of their list, where he's joined by the New York Times columnists and talk-radio hosts. David Carr calls it "a throbbing real-time Op-Ed page where currency and popularity are more important metrics than policy or political position." We call it a very handy tool for bloggers.

[Atlantic Wire]