Robin Abcarian to National desk

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Here’s the memo to the staff from National Editor Roger Smith:

I am pleased to announce that Robin Abcarian, one of The Times’ most accomplished and talented writers, will be joining the National desk as a Los Angeles-based correspondent, effective immediately.

Robin spent the last year and a half on the campaign trail, delivering news, features, profiles and analysis with her trademark flair. The campaign began for her on Joe Biden’s tiny plane, where she sat knee-to-knee with him as he flew around Iowa, and ended with a week in Ohio keeping an eye on the Obama and McCain ground games. She also covered the 2004 presidential race, and in the years between campaigns wrote memorable features for Calendar, including looks at the Sundance Film Festival, assorted awards shows, the rise of Perez Hilton and paparazzi culture. She won two well-deserved writing awards in 2007: the University of Missouri lifestyle award for a story about teenage girls who wear clothes that are way too tight, and recognition from the National Council on Public Polls for a series of stories about how young people consume entertainment and technology.

Robin joined The Times in 1990 as a general assignment writer in the View section and became the section’s columnist when Jack Smith retired. She left in 1997 for a brief stint as a radio talk show host, returned as an assistant editor in the Southern California Living Section and eventually edited the section before it was folded into Calendar in 2002.

She began her professional career across the street from The Times, high above the Redwood saloon in the offices of UPI, where she was an unpaid intern for three months in 1981. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a double major in French and English, and has a master’s degree in journalism from Boston University. She lives with her husband and 16-year-old daughter in Mar Vista.