Farewell. The Flying Pig Has Left The Building.

Steve Hynd, August 16, 2012

After four years on the Typepad site, eight years total blogging, Newshoggers is closing it's doors today. We've been coasting the last year or so, with many of us moving on to bigger projects (Hey, Eric!) or simply running out of blogging enthusiasm, and it's time to give the old flying pig a rest.

We've done okay over those eight years, although never being quite PC enough to gain wider acceptance from the partisan "party right or wrong" crowds. We like to think we moved political conversations a little, on the ever-present wish to rush to war with Iran, on the need for a real Left that isn't licking corporatist Dem boots every cycle, on America's foreign misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. We like to think we made a small difference while writing under that flying pig banner. We did pretty good for a bunch with no ties to big-party apparatuses or think tanks.

Those eight years of blogging will still exist. Because we're ending this typepad account, we've been archiving the typepad blog here. And the original blogger archive is still here. There will still be new content from the old 'hoggers crew too. Ron writes for The Moderate Voice, I post at The Agonist and Eric Martin's lucid foreign policy thoughts can be read at Democracy Arsenal.

I'd like to thank all our regular commenters, readers and the other bloggers who regularly linked to our posts over the years to agree or disagree. You all made writing for 'hoggers an amazingly fun and stimulating experience.

Thank you very much.

Note: This is an archive copy of Newshoggers. Most of the pictures are gone but the words are all here. There may be some occasional new content, John may do some posts and Ron will cross post some of his contributions to The Moderate Voice so check back.


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Thursday, April 24, 2008

What's the local value of Rendell?

By Fester:



One of the races that I was interested in on Tuesday night was the Democratic primary in PA-18.  PA-18 is a district to the south and east of Pittsburgh and it is currently represented by Republican Rep. Tim Murphy.  I did some work in this district in 2006 and it may become my white whale as I am convinced that a solid Democratic campaign that fuses grassroots activism, a clear and contrasting message and strong support from establishment centers of Democratic power could give Murphy one hell of a contest and win the seat.  I thought Beth Hafer was the best shot in this cycle of being that candidate and campaign, but I was wrong, she lost the nomination in a close and relatively genial election battle with Steve O'Donnell.



One thing that is interesting to me at least is the relative power differential between Gov. Rendell and the local Allegheny County Democratic machines.  On the presidential level these two groups were working in effective concert and delivered the county to Clinton by 28,000 votes.  However in PA-18, these groups split.  Gov. Rendell sent a personal check to Beth Hafer's campaign while the Allegheny County Democratic Committee endorsed Steve O'Donnell.  And O'Donnell's best county was Allegheny County.  So what exactly is the local vote moving value of Governor Rendell's support out in Western Pennsylvania?  Is his support only valuable out in the southeast portion of the state?



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