Politico takes a look at one Ralph Z. Hallow today, veteran reporter of The Washington Times, who it dubs as having the Republican National Committee “infighting beat” and calls “The RNC's least favorite reporter.”

Why? “Hallow, who has covered the RNC for The Washington Times for decades, has forged an entire beat out of the infighting within the RNC, which is divided between the supporters of (Chairman Michael) Steele and critics of his spending and leadership style. That latter faction, which includes many major GOP donors, has been feeding Hallow internal documents damaging to Steele almost since the moment Steele was elected in the spring of last year.

”Those leaks culminated in a particularly damaging story by Hallow on July 20th, based on a leaked memo by RNC Treasurer Randy Pullen accusing Steele of trying to hide of $7 million in debt from the Federal Elections Commission in an attempt to make the RNC's books look healthier than they actually were"

But it also says “Steele supporters believe that Hallow is too close to his sources to be objective, and charge that he overlooked stories about Pullen's own debt-hiding controversies - published in the Huffington Post and the local press in Arizona, where Pullen is state party chairma."

And is Hallow too close to some party leaders? " ... there is no question that Hallow's relationship with members of the RNC goes beyond the professional. Hallow and his wife, Millie, were listed as guests of outgoing RNC member David Norcross at a farewell party in Norcross's honor Thursday night, according to an email obtained by Politico."

Meanwhie the story, at the end, mentions the Times' own troubles, stating the paper: " ... went through significant layoffs in January, the freezing of 401K contributions and the loss of its publisher and president, Jonathan Slevin, in April.

“The paper has also had to kill its sports section and focus on international, national and cultural issues. In a symbolic move, the White House Correspondents Association voted Sunday to move the paper's White House correspondent back a row in the White House briefing room.”