BuzzFeed exclusive: McCain to endorse Romney tomorrow buzzfeed.com/buzzfeedpoliti…

— Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen) January 4, 2012

@lazerow @bgershon we were first with the story and CNN reported a few minutes later - but I concede that CNN is a MUCH BIGGER NEWS BRAND :) — Jonah Peretti (@peretti) January 4, 2012

The story even earned the startup a congratulatory tweet from a CNN producer.

I won't do a "Must Credit BuzzFeed." But please do credit BuzzFeed. We're a fragile young thing.

— Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen) January 4, 2012

BuzzFeed seems to be taking the Huffington Post fast-track to success, but with a more irreverent attitude. In addition to Mr. Smith, the startup poached Rosie Gray from the Village Voice and Business Insider alum Zeke J. Miller along with mashup-maker Andrew Kaczynski, a 22-year-old who seemed destined for The Daily Show due to his compulsive CSPAN crawling.

The source had some political news readers scratching their heads. "But what, exactly, is Buzzfeed?" asked Gabriel Sherman in a story about the startup's newsy ambitions over at New York. Indeed, what is a BuzzFeed? The site has historically dominated honey badger memes, ultimate maps, a meme search engine and stories like "What Happens When You Give Kids Thousands Of Stickers," and worked on tools for publishers and advertisers to detect viral content while it's still on the upswing. But now it looks like the site intends to compete with the big boys on 2012 campaign coverage.