'Washington Post' Editor Retires

In a move that has been foreshadowed for months, Washington Post managing editor Leonard Downie Jr. announced his resignation this afternoon. His 17 years atop the Post's masthead will come to a close on Sept. 8 -- meaning his successor will take over two months before the presidential election rather than, as previous reports have suggested, after the inauguration.

Just this morning, Katherine Weymouth, the Post's new publisher, was quoted saying she was "in no hurry to rush Len out of here." But her search for a successor has been widely reported, with candidates rumored to include Newsweek editor Jon Meacham, former Wall Street Journal editor Marcus Brauchli, New York Times assistant managing editor Jonathan Landman and Time's David Von Drehle, as well as internal candidate such as managing editor Phil Bennett and columnist David Ignatius. Weymouth says a successor will be named in a few days.

A source familiar with Brauchli's thinking says he is eager to return to editing a newspaper, two months after being pressured into resigning from the Journal, while another source, who has spoken to Meacham about the Post job, says the Newsweek editor, having recently presided over his own painful round of staff cuts, is less than enthusiastic about the prospect of a job where more such downsizing would almost certainly be required.

Incidentally, assuming the time stamps are to be relied on, it looks like Politico scooped the Post on its own announcement by 14 minutes.