With all that's been going on these past few days, I nearly forgot that today is the first birthday of .08 Acres. One year ago today, I made my inaugural post. If you had told me then that in the course of a year that I'd be on the phone with a sitting Senator, a current gubernatorial candidate, and a former one, I'd have said you were nuts -- no one in their right mind would care what some guy living in Watertown has to say.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who manages to stop by my little parcel of the web. If I didn't think anyone was reading, I probably would have given up a while ago. Of course, I honestly have no idea how many people actually read my blog on a regular basis. Site Meter gives a good estimate, but doesn't count those who syndicate via XML, or those who have javascript disabled (as I often do). From those records, though, I can tell you that my traffic for the past two days exceeded what I got that entire first month.
The entire Massachusetts progressive blogosphere has come a long way in the past 12 months. Back then, there were maybe a half dozen of us on this side, and no one particularly paid much attention. Now, thanks to Lynne and Susan, most of us have met, and thanks to Leftyblogs, we're all sharing traffic. Candidates are even taking us seriously -- granting us interviews, sending us campaign updates unsolicited. I think they're smart to do so, too, particularly candidates for the downticket races and special elections. I can't tell you how many hits I get looking for information on those. We're filling the void for voter information left by an otherwise disinterested media.
Anyhow, if you're new around here, forgive me for reminiscing. If you feel like you've missed out, here are some of my favorite posts:
- Purple Massachussets part I and part II, where I put together maps of the Commonwealth color-coded for the 2002 elections
- Nothing Doing, where we try to figure out what the Massachusetts Republican State Congressional Committee is spending it's money on. (Hint: it's not Congressional candidates)
- The 2005 Mass Democratic Future Convention report, as well as the 2005 Mass Democratic State Convetion report.
- Debunking the Taxachusetts Myth.
- My interviews with Deval Patrick, former state Senator Warren Tolman, and most recently Representative Mike Festa.
- Governor and trendsetter Mitt Romney was in favor of wiretapping before it was fashionable.
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