WSJ’s Baker is “pop culture sensation”

Joe Pompeo of Politico writes about Wall Street Journal editor Gerard Baker, whose performance Tuesday evening at the Republican presidential debate has drawn rave reviews.

Pompeo writes, “In the wake of the event in Milwaukee, which drew 13.5 million viewers to Fox Business, the web was crawling with tweets and memes about a bald British newspaperman who cut an under-the-radar figure next to his more famous, camera-ready, American co-moderators.

‘In a surprising twist, the stand-out performer [of] the night according to the audience on Twitter wasn’t even a candidate,’ a BBC article declared. ‘Step forward Gerard Baker, aka ‘the British guy’, ‘the guy with no hair’ or least flatteringly of all ‘Humpty Dumpty’.’

“‘British moderator of Republican Debate bemuses America,’ proclaimed a headline from Britain’s Telegraph.

“Baker, who was named editor in chief of the Journal in 2012, addressed his newfound stardom in a podcast interview Wednesday afternoon with Journal sportswriter Jason Gay, who introduced his boss as, ‘quite frankly, a pop culture sensation.'”

Read more here.