Andrew Breitbart, 1969-2012 | TPMDC

Andrew Breitbart, 1969-2012 TPMDC

Andrew Breitbart, an online media innovator and one of its most controversial practitioners, died unexpectedly early Thursday morning, at UCLA Medical Center, in Los Angeles. He was 43.

Surpassed only by his friend and fellow conservative Matt Drudge, whose eponymous news aggregation website still commands outsize influence over the broader media, Breitbart recognized years ahead of his current-day peers the Internet’s potential to direct the flow of information from its point of inception and thus command narrative and help shape public opinion.

His alliance with Drudge began in the mid-1990s, before the Lewinsky scandal turned Drudge Report into water cooler conversation. Until quite recently Breitbart referred to himself as “Matt Drudge’s bitch.” But he left his own imprimatur on the Web as well — one that, in different ways, rivals his mentor’s.

LP - I wish I could say what a great guy, but I can't. But it is a news story.