Well, I've made my choice for next year's guest bloggers. I'll be announcing them early next week, after I get a few housekeeping tasks in order (like making sure they want to do it).
But I want to make a couple of things clear --
I made my decisions, like I have in the past, based on two factors -- the first is merit. I don't concern myself with sex, race, ethnicity, or any of that stuff. This is a site about politics, and I wanted the best commenters on politics. Note that my choices all came from highly recommended individuals in the nomination thread. You guys essentially chose these people, and most of those nominations were based on the quality of their work. That's how I like it, no matter how controversial that might be.
And I should note that the guest blogger corps on this site has been some of the most ethnically and racially diverse of any publication.
That said, the people I'll announce next week are not necessarily the best writers on the site. First of all, that "best writer" classification is highly subjective. The people I like best aren't necessarily the people you like best. This wasn't a contest to find "the best". Rather, I had to find the right mix between people who could competently write about topics and issues that will be relevant in 2006. I think/hope I struck the right balance.
Finally, the bench on this site is deep. This was the hardest year yet to sift through the options. My intention was four guest bloggers. I ended up picking five. And I was tempted to go to six. But no matter how many names I would add to the liist, there were always more I'd want to squeeze in. And at the end of the day I needed a cutoff. So five it was. But there are far more than that deserving of higher visibility.
Ultimately, I suspect that, no matter what you may think of what I've written above, you'll be pleased with the new lineup.
As for these alumni -- Armando, Plutonium Page, DavidNYC, Hunter, DHinMI, Meteor Blades, Trapper John, and DemFromCT will hold "emeritus" status and keep their posting abilities for when inspiration strikes them during open posting times (Friday-Sunday and when I'm on the road).