It started like this...

Wednesday, October 22, 2003

With a thirty-some year track record as a Democratic Party consultant, candidate and activist, there's no way I'm going to claim to be 'fair and balanced.' Nope, Upper Left will be proudly partisan. I was born and raised in a New Deal Democratic home, and time came to choose a candidate on my own, I got Clean For Gene back in 1968. In 1972, I came home from Vietnam and went to work for George McGovern. In the intervening years, I've worked with and for dozens of Democrats running for everything from small town city councils to POTUS. Now I've got a spot to spout off what I think I've learned and what I think is right and wrong on the current political scene. I hope to offer a regional focus, too, from my vantage point in the suburbs of Seattle (close enough to town to proudly claim Jim McDermott as my personal Congresscritter). Now I just have to figure out the functional side of this thing...

...and now, 365 days, over 1,800 posts and almost 50,000 visits later, I think I'm getting the hang of it.

I still remember when getting 100 hits in a week was pretty exciting stuff, but as that number's gone over 1000, I'm still grateful for, and fairly amazed by, each and every one. Along the way, we've raised a couple thousand dollars for John Kerry, a few hundred for the DCCC (and it's not to late to make that number bigger!), made new friends and had a lot of fun. Hopefully there's been some good information passed along as well. From the Dean-bashing days of yore throught the Don't Panic! period and now into the increasing anticipation of victory in November, I've got to say that every bit of effort I've put into this thing has been worthwhile for me, and I hope that whatever time you've spent here has been worthwhile for you.

So to everybody who's logged on, linked up and/or chipped in during Upper Left's first year, thanks! And please hang around for year two. I'll be here.