So without further ado, as Fishbowl DC informs us, Ben Feller is the AP’s new White House Correspondent. Feller covered education for the news organization from 2003 to 2006, switching to the White House since then.

This comes after the AP was awarded Helen Thomas’ seat last week. The official memo is below:

Dear Colleagues,

I’m pleased to announce Ben Feller as AP’s new White House Correspondent.

Ben is taking the helm after an extraordinary year in which he’s won two major awards for presidential coverage, a first for the AP. He won the Merriman Smith Award for presidential reporting on deadline for his coverage of President Barack Obama’s late-night tribute to soldiers returning from war in flag-draped caskets at Dover Air Force Base. He was awarded the Gerald R. Ford journalism prize for overall distinguished reporting on the presidency, including the Dover return, the president’s Nobel prize, and an analysis of George W. Bush’s presidency, among other pieces.

Ben joined the AP in Washington in 2003 as a national education reporter and moved to the White House beat in November, 2006. Prior to joining the AP, he wrote for The Tampa Tribune, the News & Record in Greensboro, N.C., and the Centre Daily Times in State College, Pa.

Feller is a native of State College. He graduated from Penn State University in 1992 with a degree in journalism.

Ben succeeds Jennifer Loven who, after her distinguished coverage of two presidencies, including the last 2 years as correspondent, will be taking a new assignment at her request. With Ben as correspondent, the AP’s tradition of the best possible White House coverage is ensured without missing a step.

Please join me in congratulating Ben.

Steve

Steven Komarow

Acting Chief of Bureau

The Associated Press

Washington

“Church is full today,” joked Gibbs. “That’s good to see.” Here’s the briefing from C-SPAN.

Most eyes were on the Associated Press who now occupy the front row, center seat once warmed by Helen Thomas – but there were several changes made by the White House Correspondents Association and a whole new seating chart – one that may require a booster seat as Gibbs pointed out to America Urban Radio Networks’ April Ryan who could barely see the podium from her spot behind NPR reporter Ari Shaprio.

“Ms. Ryan, you’re going to have to ask that gentleman in front of you to sit down a little,” joked Gibbs. “He’s a little on the tall side.”

Ryan moved up from the fourth row to the middle of the third row next to Politico, which also moved up from fourth to third row. That put Ryan directly behind NPR, one of the contenders for the Thomas perch. NPR was given Fox’s old seat in the second row, directly behind the newly ensconced AP. Fox moved up to the first row in the old AP seat. Got it?

Ending weeks of speculation, the White House Correspondents Association announced the Associated Press will take the front row, center seat in the James S. Brady Briefing Room at the White House once occupied by Helen Thomas.

The association stated the change will take effect Monday and that it was a “very difficult decision.” Bloomberg, Fox News, and NPR all made public plays for the coveted chair, which did not go unnoticed by the WHCA board. The first few minutes of Monday’s briefing might look like a game of musical chairs since the AP won’t be the only ones with a new vantage point.

The board “was persuaded by Fox’s length of service and commitment to the White House television pool” and moved them to the front row seat previously occupied by AP; NPR will shuffle into the second row seat previously held by Fox, next to Bloomberg News.

Photo: Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images

After a few jokes about who an “unexpected third party” could be, it’s almost unexpected that NPR would emerge as the dark horse for Helen Thomas’ coveted seat.

But that’s exactly what happened, according to The Upshot, when the news organization that recently dropped the “Radio” from its’ name submitted a formal letter to the White House Press Association.

NPR’s reasoning? Its audience size, scope of programming and the subtle burn that they’ve been in the White House Press Room since the 1970s compared to Bloomberg and Fox News. Once again, August 2nd will be a very exciting day.
Photo: Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images

If you like to bet on dark horses, consider August 2nd your derby come early.

Helen Thomas’ valuable front row spot in the White House Briefing Room will be determined by that Friday, according to a report from Fishbowl DC. This means the quiet battle between Fox News and Bloomberg will finally come to an end, likely with a whimper rather than explosive bang.

We already speculated about the shifts in seating, but at least we have something to look forward to when the rest of the Beltway runs away for the August recess.

Photo: Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images

Ed Henry, 2009 Gridiron Dinner. Haddad Media

The 2012-13 White House Correspondents Association election results are in–and so is President-Elect Ed Henry of CNN.

FishbowlDC shares the other incoming elects: Politico’s Carol Lee takes the At-Large Chair, Time’s Michael Scherer the Magazine Chair and Henry also won the TV Chair.

While congratulating Lee, Mike Allen shares the WHCA voting tally, proving the At-Large vote was the closest of the four races. Under the President write-ins, however, it’s hard not to notice one sarcastic vote for Helen Thomas.

Now that a new board has been selected, the eerily-quiet anticipation for who’ll inherit the abandoned front row seat may continue.

DC is coming out of a devastating heat wave, but we’re five days away from ending another event: which outlet inherits the seat that Helen Thomas built.

There’s only two groups in contention for the seat: Fox News and Bloomberg News. The former is cashing in a chit from the last White House Correspondents Association reshuffle, which it gave up a front-row seat to CNN in 2007 with the handshake deal that it would take the next opening. Bloomberg’s Al Hunt recently came in an 11th hour plea that the recently expanding news organization be granted Thomas’ seat. The entire argument came out earlier in June with letters from Hunt and Fox News’ Washington Managing Editor Bill Sammon were sent to the WHCA.

Of course, no one would say anything until the reorganization, which’ll become official on Friday. So while the temperature and humidity may have eased up on the Beltway, we can only expect negotiations for the coveted front row seat will become muggier and hotter than they had been.

An informal poll from Fishbowl DC found Fox News should get the chair over Bloomberg, but another 25 percent believed yet another outlet should get it.

Of course, below is the full seating chart from WHC Insider, which we’ll have to change in a few days. But who do you think will take the seat: Bloomberg, Fox or some third dark horse lurking in the shadows? Leave it in the comments.

Reliable Sources brings word that Fox News’ spot in the White House press room is being challenged once again–this time by Bloomberg News’ Managing Editor, Al Hunt.

Bloomberg (via Hunt) claims–in shades of CNN’s previous reasoning–they’ve been around longer, are more established and “[w]e write about matters financial and non-financial.” Fox News’ Vice President of News and Washington Managing Editor Bill Sammon’s plan relies on a 2007 I.O.U. from the last press room restructuring and the assumption that Bloomberg still covers just finances. The Huffington Post has the full letters here.

There’s no buzz on whether this late Bloomberg bid will work, but at least we have a Fishbowl DC poll. And in case you forget the prime real estate in question, check out WHC Insider’s press room seating chart.

Held at the Georgetown Mansion of Politico owner and wife, Robert and Elena Allbritton, the posh gathering included stamina-filled notables, such as: WHCA President Ed Chen, Secretary of Health & Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Senator Scott Brown, T. Boone Pickens, actor Ewan McGregor, and the youthful trio, the  Jonas Brothers.

Check out Politico’s take.

As reported by Politico’s Mike Allen, mere days ago White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs met with a delegation from the White House Correspondents’ Association, headed by Ed Chen, WHCA president and Bloomberg News White House correspondent.

Chen asked for the meeting “to clear the air because in my 10-plus years at the White House, rarely have I sensed such a level of anger, which is wide and deep, among members over White House practices and attitude toward the press.”

The two sides spoke on a number of issues including improved press access. Chen told Politico that he felt “very good about the collegial give and take.” Read the full interview from Politico.