Put your hands together for my Spokesman-Review colleague Betsy Russell, who has been picked as the best political reporter in Idaho by the Washington Post. Writes the post: "As we have said before, political reporters out in the states are doing great work on a daily basis and, by aggregating the best of the best here, you have a chance to follow their work. We will put our list in a permanent spot on the blog -- exact spot still to be determined -- so that it can be used as a reference in advance of the 2010 midterm elections." In Arkansas, Michael Wickline of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette was named as a top political reporter. He's a former Coeur d'Alene Press/Lewiston Tribune political writer.You can see full list below.

Alabama: New York Times' Dana Beyerle <http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/b/dana_beyerle/index.html> , Montgomery Advertiser's Sebastien Kitchen <http://southunionstreet.blogspot.com/> , Associated Press' Phillip Rawls

Alaska: Anchorage Daily News' Richard Mauer <http://www.adn.com/contact/rmauer/> , Associated Press' Rachel D'Oro, Anchorage Daily News' Sean Cockerham and Kyle Hopkins <http://community.adn.com/?q=adn/blog/24417> , KTVA's Matt Felling <http://www.ktva.com/anchors/ci_11024441>

Arizona: Arizona Republic's Dan Nowicki <http://twitter.com/dannowicki> , Capitol Media Services' Howie Fischer, Arizona Republic's Casey Newton

Arkansas: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Michael Wickline <http://www2.arkansasonline.com/staff/michael-wickline/> , Arkansas Times' John Brummett <http://www.nwaonline.net/columns/john_brummett/> , Arkansas Times' Max Brantley <http://www.arktimes.com/Articles/Category.aspx?CategoryID=fb8bd551-03da-4d9e-96a2-21dab7e04f53>

California: San Francisco Chronicle's Carla Marinucci <http://twitter.com/cmarinucci> , Los Angeles Times' Michael Finnegan <http://articles.latimes.com/writers/michael-finnegan> , Los Angeles Times' Mark Z. Barabak, Sacramento Bee's Dan Walters <http://www.sacbee.com/walters/> , Los Angeles Times' Shane Goldmacher <http://twitter.com/ShaneGoldmacher> , Calbuzz's Phil Trounstine <http://www.calbuzz.com/>  

Colorado: Denver Post's Lynn Bartels <http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_13383366>  , 9News' Adam Schrager <http://www.adamschrager.tv/Adam_Schrager.html>

Connecticut: Hartford Courant's Chris Keating <http://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/> , Hartford Courant's Jon Lender <http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-lender,0,3223779.columnist>

Delaware: Delaware Grapevine's Celia Cohen <http://www.delawaregrapevine.com> , Wilmington News-Journal's Harry Themal <http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20090928/OPINION03/909280338/1111/Jesus-and-Communism-have-much-in-common/Honesty-is-a-reporter-s-best-friend>

Florida: St. Petersburg Times' Adam Smith <http://www.tampabay.com/writers/article380298.ece> , Associated Press' Brendan Farrington <http://twitter.com/bsfarrington> , Miami Herald's Beth Reinhard <http://www.miamiherald.com/news/columnists/beth-reinhard/> , St. Petersburg Times Marc Caputo <http://www.tampabay.com/writers/marc-caputo>

Georgia: Atlanta Journal Constitution's Aaron Gould Sheinin <http://twitter.com/asheinin>

Hawaii: Honolulu Star-Bulletin's B.J. Reyes <http://twitter.com/hsbpolitics> , Honolulu Advertiser's Derrick DePledge <http://thenotebook.honadvblogs.com/>

Idaho: Spokesman Review's Betsy Russell <http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/boise/>

Indiana: Indianapolis Star's Mary Beth Schneider <http://blogs.indystar.com/politics/mary_beth_schneider.html> , Louisville Courier-Journal's Lesley Stedman Weidenbener <http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=COLUMNISTS07> , Howey Political Report's Brian Howey <http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/fix-notes/www.howeypolitics.com>

Illinois: Chicago Tribune's Rick Pearson <http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-pearson-bio,0,3180384.story> . Chicago Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet <http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/> , Crain's Greg Hinz <http://twitter.com/greghinz> , Capitol Fax's Rich Miller <http://thecapitolfaxblog.com/> , Chicago Sun-Times' Carol Marin <http://www.suntimes.com/news/marin/index.html> , Associated Press' Deanna Bellandi, Chicago Sun-Times' Abdon Pallasch

Iowa: Radio Iowa's O. Kay Henderson <http://www.okayhenderson.com/> , Des Moines Register's Tom Beaumont <http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/author/tom-beaumont/?GID=uckNmHggUhlVNp01C3At4PLxVvY1VWwkonaK6J6w/Fg%3D> , Associated Press' Mike Glover <http://www.iptv.org/iowapress/glover.cfm> , WHO TV's Dave Price <http://www.whotv.com/about/station/newsteam/who-anchor-dave-price-033109,0,6538836.story> , Lee Enterprise's Ed Tibbets <http://campaigntrail.qctimes.com/>  and Charlotte Eby <http://twitter.com/charlotte_eby>

Kansas: Associated Press' John Hanna, Kansas City Star's Steve Kraske <http://www.kansascity.com/news/columnists/steve_kraske/> , Topeka Capitol-Journal's Tim Carpenter <http://cjonline.com/authors/tim_carpenter>

Kentucky: Rural Blog's Al Cross <http://www.uky.edu/CommInfoStudies/IRJCI/blog.htm> , Paducah Sun's Bill Bartleman <http://twitter.com/kybaRT> , Louisville Courier-Journal's Tom Loftus

Louisiana: Louisiana Politics' John Maginnis <http://www.lapolitics.com/> , Gambit's Clancy DuBos <http://bestofneworleans.com/gyrobase/Section?category=oid%3A26160>

Maine: Maine Public Broadcasting's A.J. Higgins <http://www.mpbn.net/About/OnAirStaff/AJHiggins/tabid/612/Default.aspx> .

Maryland: Washington Post's John Wagner <http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/articles/john+wagner/> , WBAL's Jayne Miller <http://www.wbaltv.com/station/566748/detail.html>

Massachusetts: Associated Press' Glen Johnson, Boston Herald's Hillary Chabot <http://www.bostonherald.com/search/?topic=Hillary%20Chabot&type=byline&searchSite=recent&x=10&y=10> , Statehouse News Services' Jim O'Sullivan, Boston Globe's Brian Mooney <http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/resources/bio.aspx?id=4120>  and Scott Helman <http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/resources/bio.aspx?id=4118> , Associated Press' Steve LeBlanc

Michigan: WKAR's Tim Skubick <http://wkar.org/inside/staff/staffdisplay.php?WkarID=skubick> , Detroit Free-Press' Chris Christoff Associated Press' Kathy Barks Hoffman <http://twitter.com/kathybhoffman> , Gongwer News Service's Stephanie Cepak, Michigan Radio's Jack Lessenberry <http://jackshow.blogs.com/> , Mlive.com's Peter Luke <http://connect.mlive.com/user/pluke/index.html>

Minnesota: Associated Press' Brian Bakst, St. Paul Pioneer Press' Bill Salisbury, WCCO's Erik Eskola <http://www.d.umn.edu/unirel/homepage/07/erice.html> , Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Scheck <http://minnesota.publicradio.org/about/people/mpr_people_display.php?aut_id=62> , Strib's Rachel Stassen-Berger <http://www.startribune.com/bios/54555207.html> , WCCO's Pat Kessler <http://wcco.com/bios/pat.kessler.reporter.9.314092.html>

Mississippi: Jackson Clarion-Ledger's Sid Salter <http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=COL0412&tcl_ID=ssalter> , Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal's Bobby Harrison <http://nems360.com/> , Associated Press' Emily Wagster Pettus

Missouri: St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Tony Messenger <http://twitter.com/TonyMess> , Springfield News-Leader's Chad Livengood <http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=BLOGS09> , KY3's David Catanese <http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/fix-notes/www.ky3.blogspot.com> , St. Louis Beacon's Jo Mannies <http://www.stlbeacon.org/beacon_backroom/>

Montana: Lee Newspaper's Charles Johnson

Nebraska: Lincoln Journal-Star's Don Walton <http://www.journalstar.com/news/local/article_8880f9ae-abbd-11de-b7a7-001cc4c002e0.html> , Omaha World-Herald's Robin Tysver <http://www.omaha.com/article/20090909/NEWS01/709099972>

Nevada: Las Vegas Sun's Jon Ralston <http://www.ralstonflash.com/> , Reno Gazett Journal's Anjeanette Damon <http://www.rgj.com/section/blogs01>

New Hampshire: Nashua Telegraph's Kevin Landrigan <http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=COLUMNISTS12> , Manchester Union Leader's John DiStaso <http://www.unionleader.com/columns.aspx/Opinion?channel=139832ce-97eb-4460-bf99-b71df3b7f0cc> , Valley News' John Gregg, NH Political Report's James Pindell <http://www.nhpoliticalreport.com/index.php?start=455>

New Jersey: Newark Star Ledger's Josh Margolin, Associated Press' Angela Delli Santi

New Mexico: NMPolitics.net's Heath Haussamen <http://www.nmpolitics.net/index/>

New York: New York Post's Fred Dicker <http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/dead_meat_dave_will_quit_early_dem_zBUYHADc72wZXY1fwDJ7LI> , New York Daily News' Liz Benjamin <http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/> , New York Post's Maggie Haberman, New York Times' Danny Hakim <http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/h/danny_hakim/index.html>

North Carolina: Raleigh News & Observer's Rob Christensen <http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/columnists_blogs/> , WUNC's Laura Leslie <http://wunc.org/portal_reporters_tool/laura-leslie>

North Dakota: Associated Press' Dale Wetzel

Ohio: Cleveland Plain-Dealer's Steve Koff <http://connect.cleveland.com/user/skoff/index.html> , Columbus Dispatch's Joe Hallett <http://www.thecolumbusdispatch.com/live/content/editorials/stories/2009/09/27/halcol27.ART_ART_09-27-09_G5_U1F6JF5.html?sid=101> , Cincinnati Enquirer's Howard Wilkinson <http://twitter.com/howardwilkinson> , Cleveland Plain-Dealer's Mark Naymik <http://www.cleveland.com/news/naymik/> , Cleveland Plain-Dealer's Tom Suddes <http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/thomas_suddes/>

Oklahoma: KOSU's Michael Cross <http://twitter.com/KOSUMIchaelC>

Oregon: Oregonian's Jeff Mapes <http://blog.oregonlive.com/mapesonpolitics/index.html> , Register Guard's David Steves <http://blogs.registerguard.com/cms/index.php/capitol-notebook/> , Associated Press' Brad Cain

Pennsylvania: Philadelphia Inquirer's Thomas Fitzgerald, Allentown Morning-Call's John Micek <http://blogs.mcall.com/capitol_ideas/>

Rhode Island: WRNI's Ian Donnis <https://twitter.com/IanDon> and Scott MacKay

South Carolina: The State's John O'Connor <http://twitter.com/JohnrOConnor> , Associated Press' Jim Davenport

South Dakota: Rapid City-Journal's Kevin Woster <http://blogs.rapidcityjournal.com/politicalblog/> , Sioux Falls Argus-Leader's Dave Kranz <http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=columnists0102>

Tennessee: Knoxville News' Tom Humphrey <http://blogs.knoxnews.com/humphrey/> , Memphis Commercial Appeal's Richard Locker <http://www.commercialappeal.com/staff/richard-locker/>

Texas: Dallas Morning News' Wayne Slater <http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/columnists/wslater/vitindex.html> , Houston Chronicle's R.J. Ratcliffe <http://blogs.chron.com/texaspolitics/> , Austin American-Statesman's Jason Embry <http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/firstreading/index.html> , Texas Tribune's Emily Ramshaw <http://twitter.com/eramshaw> , Texas Monthly's Paul Burka <http://www.texasmonthly.com/blogs/burkablog/> , Associated Press' Jay Root <http://twitter.com/ByJayRoot> , Austin American Statesman's Gardner Selby <http://twitter.com/GardnerSelby> , Texas Monthly's Patricia Kilday Hart, Dallas Morning News' Christy Hoppe <http://www.klru.org/specialsession/episodes/217.html>

Utah: Deseret News' Bob Bernick Jr <http://www.deseretnews.com/site/staff/9/Bob-Bernick-Jr.html> , Salt Lake Tribune's Robert Gehrke <http://blogs.sltrib.com/utahpolitics/>

Vermont: Burlington Free-Press' Samuel Hemingway <http://twitter.com/samuelhemingway>

Virginia: Associated Press' Bob Lewis, Washington Post's Amy Gardner <http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/articles/amy+gardner/> , Ryan Nobles <http://nbc12.wordpress.com/> of NBC12, Richmond Times-Dispatch's Tyler Whitley and Jeff Shapiro, Roanoke Times' Michael Sluss

Washington: Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Joel Connelly <http://www.seattlepi.com/connelly/> , Seattle Times' Jim Brunner <http://twitter.com/Jim_Brunner> , Associated Press' Curt Woodward and Rachel La Corte <https://twitter.com/RachelAPOly> , Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Chris Grygiel <http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/author.asp?author=5009&x=10&y=1>

Wisconsin: The Wheeler Report's Dick Wheeler <http://www.thewheelerreport.com/>

West Virginia: West Virginia Watchdog's Steve Allen Adams <http://westvirginia.watchdog.org/>

Wyoming: Wyoming Public Radio's Bob Beck <https://twitter.com/butterbob>