Today the San Diego Union-Tribune won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for its series of stories exposing the unprecedented corruption of Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham.

The citation reads:

For a distinguished example of reporting on national affairs, in print or in print and online, Ten thousand dollars ($10,000).

Two Prizes of $10,000 each:

Awarded to James Risen and Eric Lichtblau of The New York Times for their carefully sourced stories on secret domestic eavesdropping that stirred a national debate on the boundary line between fighting terrorism and protecting civil liberty.

and

Awarded to the Staffs of The San Diego Union-Tribune and Copley News Service, with notable work by Marcus Stern and Jerry Kammer, for their disclosure of bribe-taking that sent former Rep. Randy Cunningham to prison in disgrace. [emphasis added]

So, while my participation in the actual stories was very peripheral at best, that Pulitzer Prize goes on the résumé.

As to the people we're sharing this particular Pulitzer with, I leave that to Scott Johnson over at Powerlineblog.com.

I'd also like to note that the Pulitzer for commentary/criticism went to The Washington Post's Robin Givhan. Yes, that Robin Givhan.

First Maureen Dowd wins a Pulitzer, then Givhan. Just goes to show you that I'd need to kill just about every one of my brain cells to actually win that prize. Sadly, the Pulitzer for commentary/criticism has lately become much like Nobel Peace Prize ever since Teddy Roosevelt won it -- it's just not worth having anymore. (Not that I would turn it down if it was ever offered.)

*UPDATE* One more thing I wanted to point out was this phrase in the citation for the New York Times: "secret domestic eavesdropping." So, airplane flights from New York to Kabul are "domestic"? Every bit of information we've got on these intercepted calls indicates that they are international in nature, yet the press misuses "domestic" time and time again.