Steve Clemons and his super blog TheWashingtonNote.com have become classic testament to what a few hundred words a day can do.

A Beltway insider and foreign policy expert, he surveys the world's hot spots, nags U.N. officials, even gets members of Congress to occasionally change course.

In other words, he's kind of a big deal.

Clemons, a driving force behind the New America Foundation, a progressive think tank, uses his political blog to extol those he likes (the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad) and chasten those he doesn't (Khalilzad's predecessor, John Bolton) -- all of which he delivers with matter-of-fact commentary, top-secret sources, public policy theories and pictures of his new puppy, Annie.

And his access to insiders has attracted plenty of notice.

"The Washington Note is one of the better blogs coming out of the Capital right now," e-mailed Helene Cooper, who covers the State Department for The New York Times. "Steve has been first to report a number of scoops, particularly on the diplomatic beat, where he seems to know just about everybody..."

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