Well, hell.

I don't really want to write this post, and as a rule I don't write about things I really don't want to write about. Just the same, I can't let the news that Carl Ballard is closing down the Washington State Political Report pass without notice.

WSPR has had an effect on Upper Left that goes beyond the regular exchange of links between us that's been a regular feature since Carl started it up shortly after this place went online. Originally I'd intended to have a much stronger regional focus, but when Carl showed up he did such a great job that he just flat laid claim to a lot of ground I might have covered, ground I was happy to cede so I could get obsessive about that Kerry fella.

When we finally met face to face, I discovered that he not only wasn't 'Carl,' but he wasn't from Ballard, either, but from (almost literally) my own back yard. I've know Carl's alter-ego since, well, I guess he was probably in middle school when his mom (one of the sharpest political operatives in our Legislative District) and I were managing competing campaigns and he was tasked to keep tabs any new stuff on the lit table in our headquarters (lots of paranoia in that campaign).

Later, I chaired the first District Caucus that Carl attended as a delegate. I was proud to see young folks involved in our Party then (the eternally engaging Elder Daughter of Upper Left was the youngest delegate in the room that day, by a couple months. Carl and the ED were high school classmates), and I'm even prouder to see Carl's continued involvement the Party, and his development as a first rate analyst and operative in his own right.

He promises he'll be back soon, with something even smarter and tougher. I can't wait.

He knows he's always welcome in this space.