Revolving Door--The Sequel

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David Axelrod, senior advisor and senior strategist during President Barack Obama's 2008 and 2012 campaigns, has signed on as a contributor to NBC News and theMSNBC cable network, just a week after  former Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs did the same.

Axelrod, who turns 58 this week, recently was named director of the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago, his alma mater, and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Harris School of Public Policy. The Chicago-homesick "TUOL" staff remembers way back when Axelrod toiled as a political writer for The Chicago Tribune.

If Fox News has served as a haven--or witness protection program, depending on one's political viewpoint--for former GOP presidential aspirants, ranging from Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum to recently hired Herman Cain, then NBC News and MSNBC is fast becoming the retirement community for Obama Administration refugees. Meanwhile, broadcast and print journalists by the bushel-full ponder voluntary buyout offers.

Journalism Kids of the Famous Get Job in a Huff

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Drawing on his vast experience as a reporter for his college newspaper, the 22-year-old Colorado College graduate survived a grueling personal interview with the editor-in-chief and outshone competing journalists on an editorial test to land the editorship of the news organization's latest showcase.

It's a real-life Horatio Alger story for the editor of The Huffington Post's Denver news site that goes live in September--Ethan Axelrod. You may know his dad--David Axelrod, former Chicago Tribune reporter currently serving as Senior White House Advisor to President Barack Obama.

Arianna Huffington, who boasts that her Website is more participatory than old-fashioned journalism publications, is notorious for not paying bloggers who contribute to the success of The Huffington Post. Ethan Axelrod joins the growing list of celebrity scion scribes at The Huffington Post, including Liz Hanks (Oscar-winner Tom's daughter) who was HuffPo associate living editor in 2007-2008; Elyssa Spitzer (Gov. Elliot's kid), a HuffPo intern; and Nicholas Graham (of The Washington Post-owning Grahams).

Hey, it's not as if there are any laid-off veteran journalists available who could do the job.

That eerie sound coming from the Journalism Afterlife is David Halberstam, Edward R. Murrow, and Walter Cronkite weeping.