I wanted to inform the readers of this blog that I am about to post my final analysis here. I have struggled with this decision over the past few weeks, but I'm sure that I am making the right decision. I started blogging fervently in January and the extended Democratic primary provided more fodder than I expected. Rather than posting once or twice a week as I had originally intended, I was often blogging daily (or more). And these posts generally were not just my thoughts on the what was happening in politics on that given day, but they were involved posts that necessitated the collection and analysis of data. In short, this blog was taking up too much of my time.
The problem, is that I have a day job that I really like and something has to give. The only reason I could actually sustain this blog during the spring is that I was not teaching any courses. However, my work load will soon be changing and I won't be able to sustain the blog and my academic career at the levels I'd be happy with. Therefore, I have to give up the blog.
I want to thank everyone who has kept track of the blog over the past 6 months or so, particularly those of you who have offered your own feedback. I really did enjoy doing this and it is disappointing to be giving it up. Hopefully I'll have a chance to do some guest blogging on other sites at some point.
But don't forget that this is my penultimate post...my last one will appear soon and will be an analysis of how well cultural indicators do at predicting support for Obama vs. McCain in each state. I figured I was good for one last analysis before I called it quits.
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4 comments:
That is one of the saddest turns of this election cycle. I've enjoyed your posts for the exact reason that you've chosen to give them up - they were well researched and original. I think they've provided a much needed political-science perspective on this election and I thank you for your work. Had I not already been a graduate of the School of Public Affairs at AU, this blog would have been a fantastic promotional site. Quality work all around!
One final request: Will you leave us some links to similar political science blogs?
This is very disappointing news. I'm holding out hope that you'll re-launch down the road, as the "take" here is really very different than that of other political blogs. Thanks for your work during the primaries, I visited nearly every day and always learned something.
Not that you're asking, but I think your last post should be a comparison of primary-prediction-performance: you versus Poblano versus, say, Matthews.
I'll miss your posts. Any chance that others at the Center will take it over on a rotating basis, at least until you have time to come back?
After the primaries ended I started keeping up with blogs a lot less, so I had missed this post. But I still wanted to add that, although it's a perfectly understandable decision, it's a great pity that you have stopped with this blog.
Willie11 already said it better than I could. I have greatly enjoyed the width and substantiation of data, both on the obvious, important subjects and more whimsical ones, that you offered. It really was a blog that offered a kind of info that you cant really find anywhere else.
Pollster.com does come closest, so it's good news that you will be an occasional contributor there; but many of the most interesting (and fun!) posts here were ones that dug at layers beyond or underneath the day-to-day polling. I hope you will have the opportunity to still go there when you blog there as well! And of course, I hope your appearances there will be frequent.
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