HuffPo and Obama in Cahoots?

In Tuesday's press conference, Barack Obama directly called upon Huffington Post reporter Nico Pitney and appeared to prompt him for a question that he already knew was going to be asked. Pitney, in turn, asked a question which came directly from an Iranian: "Would Obama accept the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?" And with that seemingly innocuous exchange, the blogosphere was set aflame. Writing for Politico, Michael Calderone was suspicious of the breach in protocol, as the Huffington Post blogger asked his question second, after the Associated Press and before Reuters. The White House downplayed the coordination, saying that it was merely an innovative means "to get a question from an Iranian." On the other hand, Michael Tomasky, writing on the Guardian, says that the moment is much more significant because it foreshadows a time when the press won't be needed. Tomasky predicts that the "'press conference' may give way to the 'news conference' (that is, no press involved), in which a president takes questions via social media from the people."