Jim VandeHei

"We have no doubt that traffic will dip—how much, we don't know—following the election," wrote Politico editors Jim VandeHei and John Harris in a memo to staff today.

In part, the memo is an explanation of how Politico will try to make the transition from 2008 to 2009, a year when news Web sites are expecting a large drop in traffic. But the memo also functions as a self-congratulatory backslap for the Web site's big year.

"This election has also been, in more modest but important ways, defined by Politico," they write. But how does Politico retain its readership when there's less outside-the-beltway enthusiasm?

They write:

For all our optimism and bullishness, we want to make clear that we understand—and everyone at Politico should understand—the sobering nature of these times.

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Last night, at a Politico party at the bar Mynt on Market Street in Denver, the Washington Post's new editor Marcus Brauchli stood off to the side of the bar with a bourbon-rocks in hand.

"I haven't really started yet, so I'm not ready to talk," he said.

But here is what we can tell you: He had The New York Times under his arm, which he hadn't yet read; he wasn't aware that the Times had eliminated its Newark bureau; he just moved down to Washington a week ago; Politico founder Jim VandeHei got him into the party; he chatted with longtime Post legend Dan Balz.

He starts his new job on Sept. 8.