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, October 22, 2009

Interesting take on Delaware

By Dave Anderson:


The Senate Guru has an interesting take on the Delaware Senate race as he looks at Mike Castle (R-Del) 3rd Quarter fundraising:



For the entire three months of Q3, Republican Mike Castle only raised $57,593, $55,250 of which came from PACs.  In other words, over the three months from July to September, Republican Mike Castle only raised $2,343 from actual people.  That's only $781 per month from actual human beings.  And you're telling me his heart is in a Senate race?  I think there's one obvious explanation: the NRSC knows that there is no other Republican in Delaware who could put up a fight, but Castle really wanted to retire; so, Castle agreed to be the candidate if, and only if, he didn't have to lift a finger fundraising.  If he can be handed the seat, he'll take it; but, he won't hustle for it.  In other words, if Democratic state Attorney General Beau Biden does run, he'll win the seat by default.


Fundraising on the rubber chicken circuit sucks.  The basic alternatives are not to do it; pull a Dean or an Obama small donor mobilization effort, do a Ron Paul money bomb or sell your soul to K-Street.  The middle options require high charisma, a committed base of moderately affluent supporters  and a national network.  It looks like Castle is hitting up K-Street but even in the best GOP scenario, K-Street will be supporting Dems as they'll be the ones in the majority no matter what.  So is he a placeholder? 



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