"Officially" taking a hiatus...

It's been very hard for me to find time in the past few weeks to blog. School is back and I have been looking for a job since my class schedule interferes with my old job hours. So, I've decided to take break from blogging and I figured it's about time to let everyone know. I'll still be around posting on other blogs and keeping up with all the news. If you need your necessary dose of local and national political news, I recommend checking out Random Musings and AZ Congress Watch regularly. Craig and Stacy do awesome work on their blogs and they cover all the news I normally would.

Thanks for reading and no worries.

About the comments...

I have fixed a problem that hid all comments on the blog. I'm not sure if it has been like that for a long time or if it was a switch-over to the Google account that caused it. In any case, all comments have been published and I'll be looking through all of them. Sorry about any confusion.

Harry votes for Nancy

After swearing-in, the first order of business for the new 110th Democratically-controlled Congress was to elect the Speaker. The vote was completely party line, with the 233 Democrats voting for Nancy Pelosi and 202 Republicans voting for John Boehner.

It is truly a historic day with the first woman being elected Speaker. As with his 232 Democratic colleagues, Harry voted to elect Pelosi to the Speaker's chair. I'll be updating over the next few days the progress of the First 100 Hours Agenda and how Harry ties in with the ethics package and everything else.

Happy New Congress Day!

This is an open thread. How was your New Years?

So who's ready for the New Year?

I took the liberty of a vacation from blogging over the last month. It was desperately needed after a full semester of school, work, blogging, and the election. In fact, I became absolutely burnt out on politics during the Christmas season. Not having any Christmas spirit didn't help. However, the break was good, I had time to relax, and I'm ready to get back to business!

And so is Congress!

Tomorrow, the 110th Congress will be sworn-in, including Harry Mitchell. Harry has been named to the House Transportation Committee and he will be one of the freshman leaders in the ethics package Speaker Pelosi wants to push through. I'll be blogging over the next few days to check on Harry and what he's doing as Congress convenes. It is bound to be an exciting first 100 hours.

Also, the precinct numbers are up for the election. Craig at Random Musings has taken a look at them. I will also be going more in-depth, but for now I wanted to look at the numbers in the precincts I have lived in or in which I have close friends living.

My first apartment with my first roommate was in Scottsdale precinct Columbus (bordered by Hayden Rd., Thomas Rd., Granite Reef, and Osborn Rd.).

Mitchell- 377
Hayworth- 337
Severin- 36

So, my old precinct in south Scottsdale went to Harry by only 40 votes. The area has many older residents, most of whom have lived there over 30 years. However, it's clear that south Scottsdale will be leaning Democrat for years to come.

My old roommate moved up to north Scottsdale after our lease was up. His precinct was Sentry (bordered by Thunderbird, Frank Lloyd Wright, and 96th).

Mitchell- 436
Hayworth- 389
Severin- 28

The area has many new move-ins with a lot of nice-end condos and apartments going up, but I was absolutely shocked and surprised. Harry did amazing in other north Scottsdale districts and I think Republicans are kidding themselves if they think 2008 will be a cake-walk.

After his lease was up in north Scottsdale, my friend moved back down to south Scottsdale near Thomas and Scottsdale. This is right downtown with many apartment complexes and old neighborhoods.

Mitchell- 155
Hayworth- 84
Severin- 10

Absolutely atrocious turnout for such a high-density precinct, but it easily went to Harry.

My current residence in Tempe is in Precinct 29. The results were not surprising.

Mitchell- 325
Hayworth- 183
Severin- 13

Of course, taking random precincts and looking at the numbers is no tell-tale sign that Harry will have it easy in 2008. But, he isn't doomed and he's got two years to gain the trust of those who didn't vote for him. If anyone can gain trust, it's Harry Mitchell.

I'll return for more tomorrow as Congress is sworn-in and the First 100 Hours kicks off!