Where Dave gets his political news

As we near the first of the presidential primaries, I thought it might be helpful to share with you, dear reader, the websites from which I gather my political news. You may or may not know that I have somewhat of an interest in politics, and so it should come as no surprise that I’m a bit of a political news junkie.

I’ve found that The Politico, a publication devoted solely to political news, has, on a consistent basis, the best coverage around. It was started in January of this year to provide a new challenger to the “big boys” of political news reporting. I could describe to you the reasons why it’s so good, but I’d rather just let you read this section from their mission statement (yes, they have one, and yes, I’ve read it):

“Reading a story should be just as interesting as talking with the reporter over a sandwich or a beer. It’s a curiosity of journalism that this often isn’t true. The traditional newspaper story is written with austere, voice-of-God detachment. These newspaper conventions tend to muffle personality, humor, accumulated insight — all the things readers hunger for as they try to make sense of the news and understand what politicians are really like. Whenever we can, we’ll push against these limits. In the process, we’ll share with readers a lot more of what we know instead of leaving it in our notebooks.”

If, after reading that, you don’t understand why I love The Politico, then you may be reading the wrong blog.

All that aside, the New York Times does often have interesting feature stories on the different presidential candidates on their Politics page.

For blogs with the latest news on the presidential race, I prefer those blogs featuring writers who are on the ground in the traditional early primary states. They can provide a unique window into how a presidential campaign progresses over time. There are two in particular I would recommend. The first is the blog of Brad Warthen, the editorial page editor of The State, the main newspaper in South Carolina. The second is Cameron’s Corner, the blog of the Fox News political team, led by reporter Carl Cameron. [Please don't take this to be an endorsement of Fox News. I firmly believe that 24-hour news channels, be they Fox, CNN, or one of the many NBC offshoots, are lame. I just stumbled upon this blog one day and thought it was good.]

While we’re at it, let’s not forget presidential ads. By far the finest such ad of the 2008 race is Mike Huckabee’s ad featuring ol’ Walker, Texas Ranger himself (especially a good laugh for those of you familiar with the Chuck Norris Facts).

And finally, for the finest political commentary and analysis, I turn to the talking heads at Red State Update.

Hopefully, dear reader, these sites will satisfy your insatiable appetite for political news for the time being. If you know of any other good political sites, feel free to share. Rest assured, I’ll let you know when I find other quality political news sites that are worth your precious time.