Virginia politics have a history of feistiness. When we think back to our early days, the disputes between Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry illustrate how deeply patriots could care, and how deeply they could differ.
When Lowell decided to shut down Raising Kaine, then the preeminent Virginia blog, a large group attempted to create a new model for a community blog for Virginia Democratic politics, recognizing especially that the Old Dominion was going to be ground zero in US politics this year, with three statewide races and all 100 seats in the House of Delegates up in November. Our original attempt was quite ambitious, and encountered some difficulties, many stemming from the feistiness of Virginia politics, and because we have serious primary contests for the nominations for Governor and Lieutenant Governor.
We went up out without public notice several days ago, began to put up content, and as of about 9 PM EDT last night, we went live. And we invite you to visit us at Blue Commonwealth - if you previously linked to us, your link should take you to our new site.
There was a bumpy road getting to this point. I choose not to revisit what happened, other than to note that our problems flowed directly from the intensity of the primary contests.
We will be operating under a somewhat different model, as I explain in this front-page post. The key difference is that no story will be posted to the front page without it being reviewed by a second set of eyes. We have an editorial board of four, agreed to by the core group. That core group included many of the people from the original effort, plus a few other weel-respected Virginia-based bloggers. We also have several people who are provided us with the technical assistance we need as we continue to develop the site, which is still evolving.
We will have disagreements. We decided that at least until the primary was over we would moderate the front page by requiring the second set of eyes. Content is first posted as diaries, and then promoted by someone other than the original author: as Editor in Chief I am subject to the same review.
Now in my case, given my history of typographical errors, it probably save me some embarrassment. Our primary purpose is to ensure that we are able to maintain some comity. We want the site to serve as place where advocates on behalf of any Democratic candidate and for or against any political issue will feel they can come and engage in discussion. That does not mean we will not disagree, and we expect strong disagreements during the primary season. But after our June 9 primary is complete, we need to be able to come together on behalf of the best interests of Virginians, which we think means continuing a trend which has seen us win the Governorship twice in a row, win back both U.S. Senate seats, go from 3 to now 6 out of the US House seats, take control of the State Senate, and move tantalizingly close to control of the House of Delegates.
Our editors cover a wide range of points of view. We will express them, and we will encourage all who wish to participate to express their points of view. That will include comparing one candidate to another. We ask that such comparisons be factually supported and refrain from the ad hominen. And we know of little justification for revealing the true identity of someone who chooses to blog behind a pseudonym. We will consider "outing" as unacceptable, and one who resorts to such an approach is subject to immediate banning, as is anyone who insists on violating copyright restrictions - fair use gives more than enough flexibility to include material, and it is appropriate to link back to the source from which you quote.
We encourage all of you to visit. When you sign up you are immediately able to post both comments and diaries.
We will continue to evolve. We are the first blog on the new version of Soapblox (which is the main hosting site for many state-level Democratic blogs), and thus we may periodically encounter some glitches. We are working on migrating some of the best features we had developed for the original version of Blue Commonwealth. And we are already making arrangements for participation by a number of major political figures. We expect live blogs with and postings directly from candidates for statewide office. We will begin that early next week with Steve Shannon, who is unopposed (with the filing deadline imminent) for the Attorney General slot. We already have tentative agreements from several of those running for Governor and Lieutenant Governor. We will inform the Daily Kos community when such events take place, in case you wish to engage directly with some of the candidates.
As Editor-in-Chief I have made a commitment of the time and energy necessary to make our new effort succeed. That will, at least until the primary is complete, limit how much time I can spend here, as it has this past week. Those of us who have committed to serve as editors believe that making Blue Commonwealth successful and vibrant is important enough that we have all taken on such a commitment. We will from time to time cross-post material of interest here, as an enticement to encourage you to visit us regularly. I apologize in advance for not being able to give as much attention to some of the wonderful writing I encounter here - I will read what I can and recommend as much as is warranted, but I may have to post and comment far less frequently.
We are live, and we are under development. I could again put up the video of Bill O but I do not think we are quite so crazed in going live while still under development. And since we are returning, it is tempting to put up video of AHNOLD announcing that we're back.
This will have to serve that purpose. We proudly announce the continuation of Blue Commonwealth as the gateway blog for Virginia Democratic politics.
Please join us.
Peace.