NPI commemorates three years of blogging
Today marks the three year anniversary of the founding of the Northwest Progressive Institute's Official Blog.
We began this blog thirty six months ago to provide a liberal, progressive perspective on local, national, and international news and politics.
Back in 2004, the political winds in America were much different from today - and the local and national netroots community was much smaller.
Today the progressive movement is much stronger, the local and national blogospheres are certainly bigger, and NPI itself is more established as an organization, though it is still young and still growing.
The Official Blog was launched three years ago (March 29th, 2004) with a short post at 11:02 AM. About nine months later it began featuring daily commentary, and has been continually updated without fail since then - usually several times a day.
Since our second anniversary, we have provided comprehensive coverage of Darcy Burner and Maria Cantwell's campaigns for federal office, profiled candidates in key local races (like Eric Oemig and Rodney Tom), and we supplied steady commentary as we chronicled developments in local, national, and regional politics.
NPI successfully fought several right wing intiatives through its Permanent Defense division, and his blog hosted a series on the threats presented by each measure.
We broke the news of Referendum 65's demise here on the Official Blog in June (live from the Secretary of State's office in Olympia), and in August I filed a report from Olympia on the signature verification process for Initiative 917.
More recently we ran a visual series to emphasize the mistake of destroying Seattle's central waterfront by constructing a new viaduct.
On Election Night of 2006 the Official Blog offered live, frequent coverage of the 2006 midterm elections in conjunction with Pacific Northwest Portal as traffic exploded, nearly testing the limits of our bandwidth.
As other contributors began taking on more of the day to day political commentary and news analysis, I was able to spend time going to more events. A few highlights of my extensive liveblogging over the last 365 days:
As we move forward into our fourth year of operation, I have an important change to announce. In a few weeks, before May arrives, I will be quitting the blog entirely so I can better focus on other endeavors and projects for NPI. (Also, I could use some rest). That means I won't be doing any posting.
It'll be an indefinite break (meaning I don't know how long it'll last) - but temporary - I promise I'll be back at some point.
I'm confident that our team of contributors, led by our outstanding Media & Communications Director, will do a fine job in my absence.
As we commemorate a year of growth, victories, and successes, all of us at NPI are looking ahead to a bright future. Here's to another year of milestones!
We began this blog thirty six months ago to provide a liberal, progressive perspective on local, national, and international news and politics.
Back in 2004, the political winds in America were much different from today - and the local and national netroots community was much smaller.
Today the progressive movement is much stronger, the local and national blogospheres are certainly bigger, and NPI itself is more established as an organization, though it is still young and still growing.
The Official Blog was launched three years ago (March 29th, 2004) with a short post at 11:02 AM. About nine months later it began featuring daily commentary, and has been continually updated without fail since then - usually several times a day.
Since our second anniversary, we have provided comprehensive coverage of Darcy Burner and Maria Cantwell's campaigns for federal office, profiled candidates in key local races (like Eric Oemig and Rodney Tom), and we supplied steady commentary as we chronicled developments in local, national, and regional politics.
NPI successfully fought several right wing intiatives through its Permanent Defense division, and his blog hosted a series on the threats presented by each measure.
We broke the news of Referendum 65's demise here on the Official Blog in June (live from the Secretary of State's office in Olympia), and in August I filed a report from Olympia on the signature verification process for Initiative 917.
More recently we ran a visual series to emphasize the mistake of destroying Seattle's central waterfront by constructing a new viaduct.
On Election Night of 2006 the Official Blog offered live, frequent coverage of the 2006 midterm elections in conjunction with Pacific Northwest Portal as traffic exploded, nearly testing the limits of our bandwidth.
As other contributors began taking on more of the day to day political commentary and news analysis, I was able to spend time going to more events. A few highlights of my extensive liveblogging over the last 365 days:
- In June, I liveblogged two conventions - the Washington State Democratic Convention (from Yakima) and YearlyKos (from Las Vegas)
- In July, I liveblogged President Clinton's appearance in Seattle,
- In early September, I liveblogged the WakeUp WalMart "Change Wal-Mart, Change America" tour live from the road as the campaign's organizers journeyed to Seattle from Portland aboard their bus, Smiley.
- In October, I liveblogged a massive Democratic rally featuring Barack Obama, Maria Cantwell, and Darcy Burner.
- In late November, I liveblogged an FCC hearing on media ownership and media diversity from the Seattle Central Library.
As we move forward into our fourth year of operation, I have an important change to announce. In a few weeks, before May arrives, I will be quitting the blog entirely so I can better focus on other endeavors and projects for NPI. (Also, I could use some rest). That means I won't be doing any posting.
It'll be an indefinite break (meaning I don't know how long it'll last) - but temporary - I promise I'll be back at some point.
I'm confident that our team of contributors, led by our outstanding Media & Communications Director, will do a fine job in my absence.
As we commemorate a year of growth, victories, and successes, all of us at NPI are looking ahead to a bright future. Here's to another year of milestones!
