Weekly Open Thread: Delurkers Thread

I’d like to use this thread to give folks who read the Swing State Project but haven’t yet opened an account a chance to “de-lurk” and say hi in comments. Creating a new account is free & easy – just click here – and you can start commenting right away. We’re a very friendly and welcoming bunch here, so whether you’ve been reading SSP for three weeks or three years, if you’ve been lurking this whole time, why not stop in and say hello? We look forward to meeting you!

UPDATE: Welcome to all the new users! And I can even offer an inducement to sign up that I hadn’t thought about before, but which brand-new user TMBJon just pointed out. When you sign up for an account and are logged in, the system will keep track of which comments you’ve alread read, and which comments are new, flagging the new ones with a very visible red “*[new]” flag. That makes it much easier to follow conversations, even if you aren’t participating yourself.

UPDATE 2: What a great thread! Welcome again to everyone! So far we’ve had over 30 new signups since this thread went up, as well as several de-lurks from folks we haven’t heard from in a long time. How awesome! I’m eager to give a personal welcome to each of you, but the thread’s grown quite enormous, so forgive me if I inadvertently skip your maiden comment. The First Lady and I are headed out to dinner, but I’ll be back later to chat some more.

UPDATE 3: If you want to edit your sig line or just provide general personal information, here’s how you do it: First, click on your username, or on the “[Username]’s Page” link in the menu on the right-hand sidebar. Then, click on the “Profile” tab. There, you can edit to your heart’s content. You can even put your email address in there, which is a great way to let other people contact you offline. (Note that you can use limited HTML in the sig line, but not in the other boxes.)

715 thoughts on “Weekly Open Thread: Delurkers Thread”

    1. For some reason I got interested in Wyoming and Idaho politics since Trauner’s, Grant’s, and Minnick’s runs in 2006 and 2008.

      …speaking of which, do you know what Trauner is up to these days?  What’s our bench like, in that state, apart from the obvious ones (Trauner and Freudenthal)?

  2. Just following orders here. My name is Jon. I’m originally from Bucks County, PA (the fightin’ 8th) but currently live in Santa Monica, CA (the fightin’ 30th). Additionally, I am an alternate delegate to the California Democratic Party from the 41st Assembly District.

    I’ve been reading this site for a couple years now and find it to be an incredible resource. As I assume everyone on here could say, I am a politics junkie and I love following the ins and outs of the elections as this site so helpfully provides.

    Thanks for welcoming me to introduce myself. Perhaps now I will decide to comment on a thread in the future…

  3. …when a co-worker in the US Senate told me about this site. My life hasn’t been the same since.

    This is my first comment. I cannot describe the power.  

  4. I have commented very sparingly since I first made a username about a year ago. I started lurking right after the 2008 election and have checked multiple times every day since. I am currently an undergrad at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. Home is NJ-8, but that’s not the only thing I share with GAYTEEN4OBAMA…if you know what I mean. Must be something in the water in Pascrell’s district…

    I would love to comment more but sometimes I feel that I can’t really add anything to the great discussions. Usually I just ask questions if I want something clarified. This site completes my life though and has taught me so much about politics and our country. By reading SSP every day I got a 5 on the AP US Government/Politics exam without studying at all.

  5. Been reading SSP since the fall of 2009, when I stumbled upon it as a part of my Masters program in Elections and Campaign Management at Fordham. I’m a huge fan of all the info and all the snark; this and FiveThirtyEight are my two go-to political blogs.

    A proud resident of Sunnyside, Queens (just on the edge of the fighting 12th) since last summer, when I moved here thanks to working on the state comptroller’s race. Now waiting for the next adventure to begin. Past stops on my life tour have been Philadelphia, Chapel Hill, and Bergen County, NJ.

    Glad you guys do what you do!

    1. I don’t think I’ve ever noticed that there are brackets and an asterisk around the “new”. I’ve been doing control-f and searching “new”…  

      1. Briefly to note I’m a brunonian too. And I love ssp. And I’m gay too. There really must be something about ssp, I’m not sure what it is.  

    2. on the page, so I use “[new” to eliminate any confusion (except for on this page, where there are many FALSE [new]s.

  8. I’ve been watching the site regularly for about 3 years. I usually check here for political news before any other site cuz I find it more interesting and the comments are more intelligent and friendly 🙂

    I live in Seattle but I’m originally from rural Southern Utah. I’m a socialist and consider voting for Republicans or Democrats similar to deciding whether to throw something in the trash or the recycle bin, either way I’m being wasteful. That being said, I’m addicted to polls and voting trends so here I am.

        1. For instance, when I was in D.C. one summer during High School we was at the house offices (forgot which building it was) and everyone was out campaigning or back in their district, but we were able to talk to Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich.  Most of us did the handshake/photo-op but were only “meh” about what they had to say.  Kucinich was telling us about how if he were president he’d establish a Department of Peace, and most of the 16-18 year old guys among us were probably wondering how a little elf like him got such an attractive, tall wife.

          Now if you had the chance to meet say the speaker or one of the committee chairs or even someone who is very actively engaged on policy or with their local district then it can be pretty interesting, but I find the several of the backbenchers/black sheep to be quite boring.

  9. How is everyone?

    I’m John, originally from TX-7 (Culberson), now currently in Eddie Burnice Johnson’s district in central Dalls.

    The thing I love best about this website is how utterly excited we get when one small, tiny race is nationalized.  I so fondly remember races from Paul Hackett’s race, to the Shelley Sekula-Gibbs write-in/run-off/she gets thrown off the ballot/snelly gibr.  Unforgetable!

    Also love how people here can find the races that really matter.  I remember this was one of the only few communities who cared about the Texas SBOE (state board of education) races.  Way bigger deal than most gave it credit for.

    I never thought, until I came here, that there were people this dedicated to politics as I was.  Whats even better, is the broad spectrum of opinions AND facts that you can find here.  

    And the redistricting diaries are a dream come true.  haha.

    thanks for the nice welcome, davidnyc!

    – John

    p.s. bad wolf is a reference to Dr. Who (the new one, on BBC wales).  Whats funny is that I never thought I would fit the profile of a sci-fi lover.  My recommendation to you all is that you at least check out Dr. Who though. so good.

    1. Not that we should talk about ideology, but I’m only socially liberal on the gay issue. I’m actually moderate to conservative on other social issues. On economic policy I definitely swing to the right. However, unlike most Republicans, I recognize that the United States taxes much too little.

      1. Welcome to SSP. What was it like working in the Assembly? And good luck with the move! Though of course, in a few months after that, you might no longer be in NY-21 anymore!

        1. This is why I sorta lean towards term-limits. I voted against him in the primary last year, which was the first time he’d been primaried in forever I might and, sadly he won again.

          Totally, or she just wants his money, but I’m not sure he’s rich?  

  10. Is the plan to migrate over to Daily Kos still in effect or will SSP remain a standalone site? Hope it stays standalone — Daily Kos is too conspiracy theory for me, and I love the facts/real info you provide every day with minimal speculation (but plenty of snark).

    1. I think you’re much better off writing on SSP than you are writing to Roscoe Bartlett, but that’s just me. 🙂 Anyhow, thanks for the kind words!

      1. It was a really great experience. I loved the Assemblyperson I worked for and it was definitely a job that kept you guessing. I’m hoping to go back once our budget situation looks better!

        1. eh… as I intimated the other day about who I found attractive in the Senate, you’ve probably gathered that I like twinks.

          Oh. I think that might be beyond the scope of this website… Let’s move on! 🙂

          1. We have a seriously international smorgasbord of visitors in this thread (and on this site in general) – pretty fascinating to me, given our laser-like focus on American politics. I wonder if we have American counterparts lurking on the Austrian equivalent of SSP….

        3. Last week on her birthday. I was expecting something good but that performance truly blew me away. It was the best performance I have ever seen!

  11. I’m not sure how many of us there are here, but a Canadian has joined the SSP ranks.  I’ve been lurking here a little longer than three years, just prior to the 08 election is when I started arriving here.

    I’m looking forward to posting here when I can, hope y’all forgive me every so often if I make some errors that foreigners wouldn’t know about.

    1. No, I’m not. I’d been meaning to change my signature for awhile, actually.

      I’d gotten sick and tired of the demeaning bulls*** that comes out of the Republican party.

      1. I’m really saying this for people who have about my level knowledge of politics in other countries. You know what the parties are and some basic info about elections and stuff but you want the kind of details that you get here. It’s hard to get those details just reading news articles in foreign papers.

        As for our acronyms, even most people on Daily Kos don’t understand them. And honestly I don’t blame them. Who the hell could guess what NWOTSOTB means?

  12. I’ve hung around here for about a year and a half now.  Probably time for me to emerge from my lair.

    I live in Provo, UT, in UT-03.  I’m an Econ student at BYU.  Yes, there are Democrats in Provo, just not all that many of us.

    And sadly, I’ve detected no change in my sexiness from reading SSP.  Sorry to disappoint.

  13. I’m a lurker and I’ve been lurking for almost 8 months, multiple times a day. This feels so freeing.

    Seriously, this is a great group. I am always impressed how deep in the weeds you guys get and really know what you are talking about. Great way to get a sense of realistic electoral prospects with just a touch of cheerleading from the Left.  

      1. i think you’re the only openly gay guy who’s over 25 on here.

        there are probably more gays in my generation on here than straight guys like me  ðŸ˜›

    2. The top four cities with the highest gay population are San Fran, Seattle, Atlanta, and Minneapolis, either in that order or with Seattle and Atlanta flipped.  With Atlanta being VRA and Minneapolis only making up roughly half a district, I’d say “the third gayest district” is up for grabs, but the top two are CA-8 and WA-7.

      Random question I should know myself; how did Rep. Paulsen of MN-3 vote on the DADT repeal?  Is he more of a JIm Ramsrad or more his own-self with LGBT rights?  I do think gay rights and abortion will always be a factor in his re-election as he represents one of the most upper-class, highly educated districts in the country and that just so happens to be a swing district.  The people of MN-3 are far too intelligent to become birthers, but Dayton was absolute toxic here because of his tax platform.  However, “Obama was born in Kenya” get’s one “bitch please” and four “oh hell no”‘s a la Aunt Linda from Weekend Update.  

  14. Greetings all!  I’ve been following swingstateproject on a daily basis for close to three years.  While this is my first post, I’ve found SSP to be my go-to source for political news and commentary.  As a resident of a closely-divided state, the insightful posts and analysis of congressional and state-level races, both in Montana and across the country, is very helpful.  Thank you for all the hard work you put into this site.  I’ll look forward to commenting on more stories and posts in the future.

    Aaron

      1. Not in the United States. Go to Europe and the voting patterns are totally different. In the UK gay people are more conservative than in the U.S. In 2010 the evidence suggests that gays voted in larger numbers for both the Tories and the LibDems each than they did for Labour. It is similar in Non-Germany mainland countries.  

  16. I’ve always been interested in politics, but discovering this place a couple years ago was a revelation. Intelligent debate, friendly users, and a wealth of information. I feel like a more informed citizen for following this page–and as diehard a liberal as ever. Thanks for running such an excellent site!

    1. I don’t talk to many conservagays (new term!) so just curious (no pun intended).

      I just get annoyed too easily IRL to talk to conservative gays because when i hear them say theyre not for equal marriage I facepalm and rage.

  17. But I guess reading SSP since the 06 midterms without commenting once would make me one. When I type it out like that, five years of lurkage sounds pretty lame… So, here I am commenting and everything.  About me: I’m a super-exciting corporate attorney in my 20s from CA-36 (still deciding whether to support Hahn or Bowen in the special).  

    Thanks for the invitation for us to show ourselves.  Like everyone has said, SSP is the best and most original place on the web for the daily politics fix.  Plus you keep things fun. So thanks for all your work!                

    1. Hunky liberal men. I can hope!

      GURRRRRRRRLLLLLLLLL!!! 😉

      Join the club, and get in line! At a local Dem club gathering Wednesday night, an OFA organizer came over to recruit us for Obama ’12. It certainly didn’t hurt that he is HOT!

      OMG, a friend and I were fighting over which of us got to steal him away from the rest of the fawning masses!

  20. …in may 09. this is my favorite site. i love the back and forth that goes on here and all the great info. i just wish my use of the “M” word would not get me in trouble!

  21. I’ve been a lurker on this site since 2008, and decided to take advantage of this thread as a chance to create an account, although I can’t say how active I’ll be. As my name might imply, I’m a pretty liberal 19 year old student at Beloit College in southern WIsconsin. Before Prosser found those 7K votes in Waukesha, I was feeling pretty proud of my little liberal arts school for handing the margin to Kloppenburg, but sometimes I guess life just hands you a shit sandwich. Anyways, that’s me.

    1. I kind of feel like there are a lot of people from that demographic even around, idk, Ontario or something. and of course Lincoln Park (aka yuppieland).

  22. You can then just use command(Mac)/control + F to find all of the new comments.

    I get cranky when it doesn’t work. 😀

    1. Andrew Sullivan makes better arguments than David Boies about the inherent conservatism of gay marriage, but because David Boies is the trusted conservative voice nowadays (poor Andrew) he has more potential at changing hearts and minds.

  23. Ok I have been lurking on here for over a year, so I guess it’s time to come out of hiding. I’m Chris, 24, male, a liberal, in community college in Frederick, MD. (the Maryland 6th, home of good old, and I emphasize old, Roscoe Bartlett)My partner and I are originally from Florida, Orlando, but moved here a year ago. I enjoy the sight a lot, as I’m an electoral politics nerd. And Im pretty sure Bartlett hates me because I write so much.  

  24. Hello, I’m an occasional reader and lurker.  My name’s Mike.  I’m 35, grew up in Northern Virginia, and now live in Gaithersburg, Maryland (US House District 8, MD General Assembly District 17.)

    I have followed politics off and on for a long time, and like this site for its detailed attention to all matter of races and its political bent, similar to mine (moderately liberal Democrat.)  Thanks for all the effort that goes into this.

  25. I’ve been following SSP since oh, idk, 2008 I believe? I saw a link only dailykos to this website, and I’ve enjoyed it ever since. Yes, I a Conservative, but no Conservative websites I’ve read could even begin to compare to the in depth analyses the multiple races that this site covers in a day. Glad I found it, and plan to stick around for a while!  

  26. Hey, my name is Anthony and I’m a long-time lurker, first-time commenter. I go to Oklahoma State University where I am majoring in Journalism and Political Science. I love this site cause the comments are actually substantive (unlike YouTube, Facebook or all those other crap sites) and because I’m a political junkie. I am a liberal Democrat who as I speak am getting ready for tomorrow’s Young Democrats of Oklahoma convention where i’ll be a delegate. Nice to meet you all and hopefully i’ll continue posting from now on instead of just reading the posts 🙂

  27. Well, I’ve been lurking for about six months now. I just really enjoy the excitement of the weeks leading up to Election Day. It’s almost like a roller coaster ride for me!      

    I’m not currently registered with any political party, but I do have strong libertarian leanings (and criticize both Democrats & Republicans whenever either side infringes on our civil liberties!)

    People generally label me a conservative, but it took me until recently to embrace the label. I’m not too big on social conservatism since it’s mostly used as a distraction from more significant issues, and also because I don’t like to single out entire groups of people as my “enemies.”  

  28. My name is Oskar and I’m from the UK, I think I discovered this site in 2008, when I came over to volunteer for Obama, but by now the memory is somewhat hazy.

    So, Hi peeps and so on.

    O.

  29. Hey David, do I get a “welcome back”???

    Just kidding…I’ve been keeping tabs on the site, but with a wife that’s confined to a wheelchair, I can’t post with any form of intelligence…just like I did now.

    1. Labour’s gay rights push was done rather begrudgingly. In fact, the recent push by a Tory government for marriage equality was quite refreshing.

      There hasn’t been any major study as to why there is such a difference that I know of, but there was someone a few years back that postulated it was about Islamic immigration. I’m not sure I agree with that assessment, but you asked and I answered.

  30. My name is Brian, I currently live in NY-3, but I’m moving to NY-21 in a few months. I first started using this site a few years ago for my elections class and have been addicted to it ever since. I also used to work in the NYS Assembly and generally I love all things political. I also love music and my dog. Not really sure what else to say. Hey everyone!

  31. I’ve lurked for a couple of years at least and now read just about every thread. I have learned so much about polling and redistricting. I’m moving back to CA-39 soon where the district might be a new number and could have a primary battle. My State Senate district will also have a primary battle so I will try to help comment on those races even though its tough to measure up to the incredibly informative comments that are posted in every thread!  

      1. You have no idea how much I love Robyn. She is the absolute best that electropop has to offer.

    2. There’re a lot of auto-didacts here – such as me, for instance – so don’t let your lack of formal study hold you back! Hope to see you around more often.

      (Unfortunately, there’s no way to change account names unless you create a new account.)

    3. You’d have to stop using this one entirely. (Not that I think you’ve have any reason to if you switched, but we’d regard that as sockpuppetry, which is forbidden here.)

      1. You’ll have to become a Kossack eventually if you want to remain part of our community.

        I fit in just fine on Kos… because I never comment. I just read. And then I laugh at that bollocks. The only reason I have a Kos account is because of the move.

  32. http://m.lacrossetribune.com/n…

    State Rep. Jennifer Shilling will challenge Republican Sen. Dan Kapanke in a potential 32nd District recall election, according to a source in the Democratic Party. She stopped short of confirming her candidacy Thursday, advising people “to stay tuned” for an announcement at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Northside Oktoberfest Grounds in Copeland Park.

    From afar looks like a strong candidate.

    1. I got my PhD in atmospheric chemistry and am working towards getting a faculty position eventually. Mostly study aerosols, which are small solids and liquids in the atmosphere (dust, soot, etc.) and their impacts on human health and climate. In college I nearly majored in polisci, I love science and politics pretty evenly, but needed to choose one and go for it. Luckily SSP provide a great way to get my politics fix 🙂 If anyone has climate science questions I’d be happy to answer them (obviously offline, I love the policy free environment here)…

      1. I come from a rich family and expect to continue living in that fashion… my family is proud that I’m going to college (none of my siblings did), but they aren’t exactly thrilled with my degree choice.

          1. But that doesn’t mean too much. Over my time here I’ve vacillated between three or four different concentrations….. But I’m off to law school in the fall so perhaps you could say my concentration is “Pre-law.”

      2. I completely respect those who devote themselves to campaigning and helping elect dems…maybe somewhere down the line I’ll be have time to help out on some local campaigns…for now I just try enjoy hearing about all the good work people on this site do, for example I really enjoyed atdleft’s insight into NV-Sen last fall…

        1. And in particular why I’m such an ardent democrat despite disagreements with parts of their platform.

          Not sure if that wholly explains our overrepresentation here, but who knows.  

  34. I started reading Swing State Project shortly after Senator Obama was elected president. Had I been old enough at the time, I would have voted for Senator Obama, but by no means did I consider myself to be a Democrat. As I read more and more SwingStateProject articles, my interest in politics and my identification as a Democrat slowly developed. During the Summer of 2009 while reading SSP, I found a candidate for a special congressional election in my home district named Anthony Woods. Instead of spending my time hoping for more and better Democrats, SSP inspired me to work to elect more and better Democrats, so I volunteered for Mr. Woods. That fall, I started college at UC Santa Barbara and joined the Campus Democrats there. Ever since, I have been incredibly active in the local Democratic Community, registering student voters, hosting events and knocking on doors. I’ve even decided to run for President of the Campus Democrats club because I enjoy leading voter registration and GOTV campaigns in the University Community that much. Democratic Politics has become such a huge part of my life and I probably would never have realized how much I enjoy them if it were not for the Swing State Project, which I still read at breakfast every day. Thank You SSP.

    19, Male, D, CA-23

      1. Is beginning to feel like the Modern Family episode where Jay meets all of Mitchell’s friends at the bar. I guess DavidNYC is kind of the Jay here.

        1. Not to mention that a Texas accent is kinda cool.

          Haters can go shove it. 😛

  35. and I gotta say, it’s pretty convenient to have the *[new] tag because let’s face it, this site is like crack to a political junkie (metaphorically of course).  Anyway, I think I stumbled upon SSP through Steve Singiser’s Dkos wrap-up a year or two ago, but it definitely became one of my most frequent reads during last year’s campaigns.

    3. won’t be succeeding Coble in the house regardless, although I have no idea yet what the legislative GOP wants to do with the piedmont districts.  The James Taylor for congress signs were pretty amusing though.

  37. Hey! I’m Pablo, a high school student from NY. I’ve been lurking for just over two months–great site guys! I’ve been following politics since the 04 elections and am a proud Dem. I probably wouldn’t endear myself much to the progressive blogosphere if I told you that I hated Howard Dean and was a Hillary partisan to the bitter end, so I’ll leave those details out. 😀 Looking forward to being able to vote for the first time in 2012!  

  38. Hi all, thanks for the invitation to come out of the woodwork David. I’ve been following the site closely since 2008, but have only posted once or twice when my homes of Cincinnati, Northfield, MN, or San Diego comes up. What an amazing community you guys have built here! I hope over time to contribute more to the conversation, but as a trained atmospheric chemist I only know enough to interject from time to time. Keep up the good work and spirit of community on the site.

    As an aside I’ve now moved back to the states from Canada, but created my account while I was up there. Is there anyway to change my name or will I need to setup a new account?

  39. First time posting on SSP. Long time fan since pre-PH (Paul Hackett). Couldn’t blog for a long time while I was working in politics, so I’m excited to come out of the shadows now and (hopefully) contribute to some of the great conversations on the site.  Got some great maps I was working on that I am excited to post as well.

  40. I’ve been reading the site on a pretty regular basis since the 06 midterms when I started working on D campaigns.  I’ve been meaning to sign up and get an account here, so thanks for the push.  Many thanks to everyone who works on the site and comments here.  This site really fills a gap in providing convenient coverage of all the races that are going on at any given time.

    -Ed N

    calling Madison, WI home in-between campaigns

  42. I guess I’m semi-delurking. I joined sometime last summer, but this thing called “medical school” happened…

    Anyway, I’m from upstate New York, as my handle suggests (specifically Rochester, although I’m also very familiar with Syracuse), but I’ve spent significant time in most places in the Northeast. As for my politics, I’m pretty liberal but much prefer horserace stuff to policy debate, which is the main reason why I’m here.

    1. It happens to be a concept that my midwestern Constitutional History professor, Dr. Stephen Boyd, constantly brings up.  

      1. Not complete until you get a little bit of Janet Jackson and Kat Graham. Luckily for us I’ve got a way to make both of those things happen at once:

  43. David,

    I may be one of your original readers from the 2004 Kerry/Bush election, when you were writing lengthy essays on the various swing states and speculating on which of them Kerry could win.  I come naturally to political minutia since I worked on Capitol Hill for 24 years.  I was pleased to discover on this site how many people share my love of such trivia.  

  44. Hey everybody! Long-time lurker, rare contributor checking in! As you’ll see from my username, I’ve not got a huge amount to contribute to breaking news on your side of the  Atlantic, but I like to keep abreast of matters as they arise.

    And on that note, I’d like to give public praise to David NYC, JamesL, Crisitunity, Jeffmd, and the rest of you who make this an essential site – I wish we had one half as good for progressive horseraces in the UK.

    Keep up the good work!

    1. That places like that in many ways are considerably more hostile to Democrats than the more rural parts of the state like where I’m from. Maybe that’ll change over time, hopefully for the better.  

  45. Just wanted to give a shout out from the capital of Texas. Thanks for making this great blog, it’s a blast reading it every day.

    About me: 18, g, Democrat from TX-27, in college  

    1. This depends on where he’s not old enough to vote…

      I’m assuming he’s Japanese? The voting age there is 20, so he might not be a cradle robber.

      However, if he’s saying that he’s not old enough to vote here I’d be concerned.

  49. I love the information, the opinion and the friendy give and take between people with different viewpoints.

    Male, 35,D, WA-8 (current), NY-15 (most of my adult life and where my heart is), CT-5 (born and raised)

    1. You need to put a few spaces between the non-bold text and the bold text. If you don’t it makes it somewhat overwhelming.

      1. sure you’ll do fine. We have some local experts here but we have plenty who don’t spend much time with local politics. I must say that my political knowledge vastly increased once I starting commenting here. Don’t be afraid to ask questions from fellow users, before long you will consider yourself a hard core political junkie!  

      2. I find the talk of redistricting to be most intimidating because the level of detailed knowledge some people have is very large. I try to contribute, but I usually just watch the conversation unfold, sometimes because there’s a lot of back and forth rather than an actual end point. That’s not a bad thing, of course, but just the way the site can be. It’s very interesting, and bound to be more so as we get more official maps from legislatures or the courts.

        I wouldn’t be afraid to ask questions. The people here are very cool about sharing what they know, and slowly but surely, you will pick up more knowledge.  

  51. I’ve been lurking for about 6 months or so, and have technically posted one or two comments, but nothing substantial.

    This is a little off-topic, but how exactly do you put pictures of redistricting maps from Dave’s App into the diaries themselves?

  52. I hate gay people. They make me waste my time!

    I have been sucked into responding every ten minutes to this thread because of its wonderfully gay content. Unfortunately, I have no less than SIX essays due in the next two weeks. The one due this Wednesday has to be 10-12 pages… and I haven’t started it yet. What a time killer.  

  53. I’ve been lurking here for about three years and finally signed up.  My partner and I currently live in OH-15 and in a few months, we’re moving to NC-6.  

    Why does it seem that I always live in a district represented by a republican?

    1. You were always one of the few Republican posters there who didn’t seem like you were there to antagonize people and be an ignorant douche. Welcome!

    2. It is not dumb at all, I had a hard time with that at first. Click on your user name, go to the profile column, then go down to user signature and fill it in and save changes.  

      1. If you use google chrome, go incognito whenever you want to visit the New York Times and you won’t have any problems.

  55. I’ve been reading SSP for several months now. It’s probably the best source for election info outside certain people I follow on twitter. Glad to see alot of younger people on here (I’m still in college myself)

  56. I make this a daily read.

    My name’s Brent, I hail from Washington’s 2nd Congressional district and I figured it was only polite to respond to Davids invitation to say hello.

    Trying to figure out how to ad a signature to my comments but I am unsure how.  

  57. This is . . . incredible! I’m blown away by what this thread has become. Congratulations, and thank you for bringing all these new people to be active users on this site, something which will surely enrich the commenting environment.

    And to all the new users, this is my personal welcome to each of you! I look forward to reading what each of ya’ll* have to say!

    *I’m from Texas, dammit! I can use words like “ya’ll.”

  59. I just jumped into this site a few days ago, and was lurking for maybe a month or two before that. I used to read a lot of Politico and Political Wire, and still do to some degree. But I’ve now come to appreciate SwingState’s more technical focus, and its commitment to honest and realistic analysis. You can still be a partisan without demonizing/dehumanizing your opponents, and without making blatantly unrealistic and partisan electoral predictions.

    As for my politics, I’m interested in reducing deficits, states’ rights and a robust and pragmatic foreign policy. I care more about deficit reduction than slashing taxes. I tend to be a foreign policy hawk, although the dichotomy between pragmatism and idealism is always going to be a factor there.

    I think of myself as more of a “nationalism and tradition” European-style conservative than a “individual liberty, government out of my business” American-style conservative. As a nationalist, I have respect for our national institutions, and am therefore reluctant to bash the federal government.

    As it says in the signature, I’m a student in California but I’m from Northern Virginia. I intend to participate in the elections there in 2012, but Army Reserve duties will make me miss most of the primary campaign. I intend to volunteer someone in the general, but it’ll depend on who the nominees are, and what district I end up in.

  60. Good day,

    I’ve been lurking here ever since around 2007, been enjoying it.

    Despite my fascination with American politics, I’m from Singapore. Would like to move over one day, though.

  61. Delurking as suggested, though I’m not sure whether I’ll be posting much; I’m from Austria, though I’m interested in the politics of just about any country. 😉

  63. I’ve been lurking since 2009. SSP is an absolute favorite read of mine. Not just because I am a politics nerd, but because of the interesting and varied threads that accompany the digests. You all are very learned and thoughtful observers of politics.

    Maybe if David orders me to post, I’ll get more involved. I seem to be the highly suggestible type.

  65. Wish I could give you all individual welcomes but that would take sooo much time. I lurked for a small amount of time and I must say that having an account and commenting is a million times better, so if you have not already done so sign up.  

  68. Are there any lurkers/other commentators here from the Land of Lincoln? Sapelcovits is the only other one I have seen here, but he is from Rhode Island originally. If you are from the best state in the entire midwest (and I can back that up by claiming we are the refugee headquarters for Democrats from across the region) give a shout out!

  69. Welcome everyone! Now maybe we can get even more local perspectives on differnt races in the US or in other countries.

    As for myself, I lurked for a while last year and ended up joining becasue of the new comment feature. I usually comment on Minnesota stuff and on election days. I’m from Minnesota (as you can probably tell haha) and I’m a student at the U of M, majoring chemistry and minoring in political science. I’m hoping to go to pharmacy school at the U after I graduate. Elections are my favorite part about politics so I enjoy the daily digests, constant updates on campaigns, and the awesome election night coverage!

  70. I take a week off to tend to schoolwork and my blog, and now I see over 1,000, probably 2,000 comments posted in just that week alone! I know there’s the Wisconsin madness and the assortment of special elections but still, it’s crazy. But I’m still enjoying it!

  71. I am a daily reader who finally decided to emerge from the lurking sphere. This website is an indispensable resource for electoral politics nuts like myself. I am buried in course work now, but I look forward to contributing to future conversations.

  73. Been reading and enjoying SSP fairly regularly for about a year now and never commented because I am more interested in reading than discussing I suppose, but this seems like the time to do so.  Perhaps it’s because I also have a question that I don’t know where else to ask.  After being unable to use the redistricting app for months because of my personal computer’s odd inability to install Silverlight, I finally got my office IT to install it on my work computer so I could play around with the app, and now that I have I can’t for the life of me figure out how to post a diary entry with the MD map I created.  Help!!!

  74. Hi, I tend to lurk mainly because I’m in northern AZ (where we’re all snowstorms in April, knit caps and Birkenstocks) and I don’t feel confident to post on the crazy stuff that goes on in the rest of the state. The news that Ann Kirkpatrick is planning a rematch against Paul Gosar in AZ-01 did get my attention however. As the election season gears up I’ll be keeping my ear to the ground. Cheers!

    45, male, independent/mugwump/3rd party (Proportional representation now!)

  75. A 600+ post gay-fest while the rest of the blogosphere argues about the federal budget! Love you guys.

  76. from church this morning. I have no idea why, but this is the best place to ask it.  

    What do you guys consider to be the difference in a liberal, and a progressive.  

    People are always throwing those terms out there leasurely but I want to get an understanding from you guys of what you feel the true difference between a liberal, or a progressive would be. Or is there no difference?  

  77. Until today.  This site is one of the first things I read in the morning.  

    The redistricting maps for IL make me excited for this coming election.  My home district, IL-11, was a tough loss for me in 2010, although I saw it coming almost immediately after Debbie won.  

    2012 will be fun.

  81. i call vice treasurer of the New Englanders caucus.

    on another note, anyone got a good example of a court case destroying a map for racial gerrymandering involving African Americans other than Miller V Johnson?

  82. Love everything about the site. Decided to say hello.

    Also new to “commenting”…so hopefully it was done correctly. I’m from PA, but work in DC. Been reading on and off since 2008, but daily since summer 2010. Great roundup with a Liberal tinge that is just right. 🙂

  83. I’ve been lurking since 08, and have found this site to be a wonderful source of information and analysis for the demographic and political geek in me.

    I’m an urban planner by training, and a organizer/author by occupation. I can contribute most on topics ranging from LGBT demographics and politics (having been professionally gay for a few years) to Asian American demographics and politics, and the intersection thereof.

    Geographically, born and raised in the SF Bay Area, college in Orange County, grad school in LA, much of the last decade in NYC, and now back to home base (CA-15). So a good grasp of California statewide, but particular interest in topics pertaining to “the rest” of the Bay Area (Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda counties, etc…)not that I don’t love my SF crew =P

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