Welcome to the Atlantic Wire.

If you’re the kind of person who likes to stay on top of the major national debates, you probably have a browser window packed with bookmarks or an inbox crammed with RSS feeds. It’s awful clutter, but how else can you keep abreast of the latest from the commentariat, whose members, from Paul Krugman to Glenn Beck, shape the conversation and, more often than not, the policies that follow.

We want to help. The Atlantic Wire is your one-stop portal for opinion news. While other sites aggregate headlines, the Wire focuses on the columnists and commentators leading the national dialogue. Our team – editors, reporters, researchers, data-crunchers – systematically tracks hundreds of opinion-makers from newspapers, web sites, television, radio, and magazines. But we do more than just collect their views. By synthesizing and analyzing what’s out there, summarizing the significant positions in each debate, we give you a quick and valuable take on everything from health care reform to the war in Afghanistan to the prime-time arrival of Jay Leno.

There are four major parts to the Atlantic Wire.

• Breaking Opinions: The heart of the site, these posts collect op-eds, blog entries, and other commentary relating to a news event or an ongoing debate. These pieces frame the key questions and disputes of the day and offer clear links to our sources.

• Features: The most notable moments of the latest news cycle. Categories include Spatwatch, Strange Bedfellows, Cliché Watch, and our signature Who Won the Day.

• The Ticker: The latest opinions that matter, in 140 characters or less.

• The Atlantic 50: Our list of the most influential columnists and commentators, as determined by the Wire’s own methodology. We've also created a page for each member that includes a short bio and the pundit’s most striking statements organized by topic, with links back to their work.

For 153 years — the last 15 of them online as well as in print — the Atlantic has covered the boldest ideas and bravest thinkers of the day. With the Atlantic Wire, the style and format are new, but the ambitions are familiar: to keep you informed, satisfy your curiosity, and help you understand a changing world.

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