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NY Times Magazine Apr 23, 2008 The New York Times is one of the most decorated newspapers in the world but this year The Times made some noise on the magazine side of publishing. Its three titles, The New York Times Magazine, Play: The New York Times Sports Magazine and T: The New York Times Style Magazine, all received first-ever National Magazine Awards nominations, for a grand total of six nods. The NY Times Magazine received two of those Ellie nominations, in the profile writing and reporting categories. Today, as part of an ongoing series showcasing this year’s NMA nominees, Media Life excerpts passages from the two NY Times Magazine pieces that were nominated. Profile Writing One of The New York Times Magazine’s nominations is in the profile writing category for Zev Chafet’s piece “The Huckabee Factor,” about then-presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee. The story ran in the Dec. 16, 2007, issue. Here’s an excerpt: ''If you aren't for some reason elected president, what cabinet position would you be suited for?'' I asked. Huckabee paused, considering. ''Secretary of health and human services would be one,'' he said. ''Secretary of transportation, or the interior.'' Perhaps aware that this wasn't a Mount Rushmore self-evaluation, he quickly added that he doesn't really want a cabinet position or any other government job. ''I'd be just as happy to go back to Arkansas and open a bait shop on a lake,'' he said. Huckabee was eager to separate himself from George W. Bush, who, he complained, often visited Arkansas without bothering to notify the governor's office. ''Clinton was much better at letting us know his plans and including us in his activities. He was always gracious and respectful.'' In September, Clinton told George Stephanopoulos of ABC that Huckabee was the only Republican ''dark horse that's got any kind of chance.'' Clinton's goodwill stems, Huckabee believes, from Huckabee's own restraint during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. ''Obviously I was asked to comment. If I had been willing to criticize President Clinton, I could have made a cottage industry out of it. But I didn't do that, I didn't discuss it at all. And I think he was grateful for that.'' Hillary Clinton had recently announced that, if elected president, she would use her husband as a ''roving ambassador.'' I asked Huckabee if he envisioned a similar role for George W. Bush. ''I think he just wants to go back to Texas,'' Huckabee said. ''I've heard him say that.'' ''But if he wanted be involved?'' I asked. Huckabee paused, picking a crouton out of his salad. ''Well, if the matter ever came up, I wouldn't entirely dismiss it,'' he said finally. Right about then Corey, our waiter, came over with the check. I introduced him to the candidate. ''I thought you looked familiar,'' he said diplomatically. ''What are you for?'' Huckabee gave him a friendly, quizzical look. ''What issues are you for?'' ''Oh,'' the governor said. ''Ah, tax cuts. Support for arts education. And energy independence. I want to get where we need the Saudis' oil about as much as we need their sand.'' Corey mentioned that he, personally, would like to see waiters' tips rise to 18 percent. Huckabee laughed agreeably but said nothing. No Republican candidate wants to get caught by a reporter advocating a price hike for anything. Reporting The New York Times Magazine’s other nomination came in the reporting category for “Where Boys Grow Up to Be Jihadis,” Andrea Elliott’s piece about the Moroccan city of Tetouan. It originally ran in the Nov. 25, 2007, issue, here’s an excerpt: No one from the neighborhood made it in Spain like Jamal Ahmidan. A short, pugnacious high-school dropout, he was the sort of guy who drew attention long before he bought his first BMW. He had crooked teeth and striking eyes that earned him the nickname Chino, Spanish for Chinaman. Before he was 30, he had built a lucrative hashish and ecstasy trade that operated from Holland to Morocco. Though he never grew taller than 5-foot-4, he had an indomitable air. He fought anyone who took him on. “To his face you had to show respect,” one of his childhood friends, Anwar Belaman, told me. How a small-time drug dealer from Morocco became one of the masterminds of the Madrid attacks is a mystery that continues to dog the Spanish authorities. In the epic bombing trial that concluded in Madrid on Oct. 31, Chino’s personal journey was barely glimpsed, despite his well-documented place at the center of the plot. I pieced together the following narrative from interviews with his mother, six of his siblings and his Moroccan lawyer, as well as neighbors and friends. A number of them had never spoken with a reporter. Chino grew up as the fourth of 14 children, in a spare, cinder-block house near the center of Jamaa Mezuak. He began working for his father at 15, selling cloth from a stall in one of Tetouan’s crowded markets. He was restless with ambition. One sibling recalled that he yearned to be rich. After his older brother Mustafa moved to Europe, Chino followed in the early ’90s, crossing over illegally and settling in Madrid. Back home, they were considered pioneers — they belonged to the first large wave of Moroccans to arrive in Spain after its economy began to thrive. “They had to start from nothing, as if someone threw them from the sky to the ground,” Chino’s brother Yussef, who is 24, told me. It was in Madrid that Chino became a man, Rahma, his mother, said. He learned to cook for himself. He told his mother he was working as a mason. In fact, he was selling drugs. He tore around Madrid on a motorcycle and went clubbing through the night, choosing Moroccan-themed locales over tapas bars. He didn’t like to dance. Women made him shy, one sibling said, though he pursued them relentlessly. He worked on his looks. After breaking his front teeth in a motorcycle accident, he paid handsomely for caps. He was fussy about his collection of pricey shirts and jackets, scolding one of his brothers when he borrowed an outfit without permission.
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