Some meta blogging and one more thought for today:

After this, I'm probably done for today...I need a few hours per week away from politics.

Not interested in reading about other blogs? Then scroll down to the next bold text.

I've added some blogs to the list on your right. Des Moines Democrat is new but has had good stuff so far. I mentioned Gavin the other day but hadn't actually added him to the links yet. Iowa for Feingold is at least partially responsible for making me think about presidential candidates again. He also appears to have Mr. Deeth and Charlie from PSF thinking.

Today's big winner, however, is Who's Makin' Bacon?, which debuts at #1. I had been wondering privately how the Iowa blogosphere would react to the absence of State 29, the bi-partisan rage machine that seemed to hold us all together. I mean, we all post on news sometimes, but none of us did it to the level that State did.

I'm still not sure what the answer to the "Life without State 29" question is, but at the very least, Bacon has delayed my need for an answer. He (I think it's a he) is less angry, sometimes hilarious but comparably bi-partisan and political news-oriented. I'm hoping his content stays consistent enough to keep him at #1.

Now, my non-blogging thought:

This Register article from today deserves more attention. Tom Beaumont points out something I wish more people would notice: There's a lot of lobbyists in Iowa, and they peddle a lot of money. In a non-election year, the state's nearly 500 lobbyists gave over $146,000 to politicians. In 2006, they're expected to drop more than $287,000. That's not counting what PACs and and other connected entities will add. If you feel like your elected officials don't represent you (and I do), odds are it's because they don't. The Register brought 500 more of my elected officials' actual constituents to my attention today.

KL