There have been reasons for blasting Matt Drudge, but one has to hand it to him. More than a decade ago, his Drudge Report brilliantly pointed the way to the vitality of the Internet as a news medium. And personally, he stood tall against his critics — largely in the mainstream news media who found his early years a threat to their pipeline of distributing news and among liberals who didn’t like his sometimes erroneous meddling or huge impact in bringing President Clinton’s affair with a White House intern to the forefront.
So congratulations to Drudge for receiving page-one coverage in the New York Times about his abilities to set the news agenda in the presidential coverage. The glowing story says:

The site is a potent combination of real scoops, gossip and innuendo aimed at Mr. Drudge’s targets of choice — some of it delivered with no apparent effort to determine its truth, as politicians of all stripes have discovered at times.
Aides in both parties acknowledge working harder than ever to get favorable coverage for their candidates — or unfavorable coverage of competitors — onto the Drudge Report’s home page, knowing that television producers, radio talk show hosts and newspaper reporters view it as a bulletin board for the latest news and gossip.

Here’s the story: Clinton Finds Way to Play Along With Drudge