Pennsylvania has some great political blogs, and we want to thank all the people who submitted their nominations for this list.
Best Overall Political Blog: Capitol Ideas, Allentown Morning Call
Every elected official and policymaker in Harrisburg reads John Micek’s blog. A mix of policy analysis and back room insider info, this is a one-stop shop for everything going on in the Capitol. The gratuitous soccer references can be forgiven.
Best Print-Backed Blog: Early Returns, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
If there’s breaking news about statewide electeds, western PA’s congressional delegation, or Allegheny County politics, Early Returns has it and usually has it first. The blog recently expanded to include more Harrisburg coverage – making it a quadruple threat.
Best Blog by an Elected Official
Democrat: Commonwealth Common Sense, Rep. Mike Sturla (D-Lancaster)
If you want to know know the temperature of the Democratic caucus, Sturla’s blog is a good place to look. Behind the press conference podiums, Sturla gives a glimpse of the formation of Dem arguments on legislative issues. He occasionally offers a few spoilers on the caucus’s talking points, too.
Republican: Sen. John Eichelberger’s blog, (R-Blair)
The first rule of a good blog is fresh, concise content. Every day, Eichelberger submits his thoughts on votes the Senate has taken, events in his district, and more. It’s a good mix of political and personal updates.
Best Blogs by Region
Philadelphia: Heard in the Hall, Inquirer
This was the toughest choice of the list, given the plethora of excellent political blogs in Philly. But Heard in the Hall sets the standard for blog news coverage in the City of Brotherly Love – campaign politics, City Hall insider chatter, – everything.
This blog, plus the Daily News’ PhillyClout and Philadelphia Weekly’s PhillyNow leave Philadelphians no excuse to be uninformed.
Finally, PhillyDecline is a one-stop-shop for conservatives in the city.
Pittsburgh: 2 Political Junkies
In addition to Early Returns, which we listed earlier, Pittsburgh is served by this long-running, left-leaning run-down of political news in the city, state and country.
As a followup note, we wish the Tribune Review’s ‘Whispers’ Column wasn’t just a weekly.
NEPA: Lu-Lac Political Letter, David Yonki
Thomas Jefferson said were it left to him to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, “I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
Scandal-plagued Northeast PA drives the point home. This is a region with a long, muddy political history. As a result, it has some great political blogs. The Political Letter has been covering NEPA – from school board candidates up to Congressmen – for half a decade.
A strong second place goes to the left-leaning NEPArtisan – a very good blog with great local coverage.
Lehigh Valley: Lehigh Valley Ramblings, Bernie O’Hare
A mix of local, regional and national news – including some original reporting. Constant, fresh content makes this blog a valuable resource for politicos in the LV.
Northwest PA: Campaign ‘11, Erie Times News
Best place to read about what’s going on in Erie County and City elections, if you’re into that kind of thing.
Best Local Blogs
Pittston Politics, Joe Valenti
This is a strong example of local journalism. Luzerne County politicos from Wilkes-Barre to Harrisburg all read this blog.
StateCollege.com, Adam Smeltz
This blog has been around for a few years, and keeps getting better. Good local coverage, and always a story when a statewide name is in town. His work even made national TV last year.
Capital Punmanship, Tom Murse
This Lancaster-based blog offers insight into Lancaster county politics and politicians. “I read fairly regularly despite having little interest in local Lancaster County news,” wrote one nominator.
Best Conservative Blog: PA Water Cooler
We’ve seen this crew at conservative events across the state, and they do a darn good job amalgamating conservative news and opinions from around PA. The blog is especially on target with GOP insider goings on in SEPA.
Other solid conservative blogs include the PennPatriot Blog and Keystone Conservative. And the Commonwealth Foundation’s Policy Blog is a must-read for conservative state government types.
Best Liberal Blog: Pennsylvania Progressive, John Morgan
From local Democratic committee news to Presidential visits, Morgan makes his way all around the state covering events for this blog. And the special election for PA Senate this year gave this blog the chance to shine.
Other great liberal opinion blogs include Keystone Progress, Hypocrisy Watch, Above Average Jane, and Keystone Politics.
Funniest Political Blog
Tie: PhillyNow and Capitol Ideas
These blogs each received a ton of nominations for this distinction, and honestly they’re both hilarious. They offer something for every humor palate: PhillyNow brings blunt satire, while Capitol Ideas offers wry sarcasm.
Here’s what’s on PoliticsPA’s iPod this morning:
Note: The original version of this story accidentally omitted PhillyDecline from mention in the Philadelphia Blogs section, despite it being on the draft of our list.
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22 Responses
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There is plenty of corruption to go around in Pennsylvania politicians are now stealing from each other because that’s not enough tax money to steal to the point that whoever gets the short end of the stick will get the FBI involved instead of bellyaching about you need money for this and you need money for that you should stop making prison an industry in Pennsylvania and consider passing a bill for medical and recreational marijuana
To tell the truth it was an excellent indepth post nonetheless as with every fantastic freelance writers there are many factors that is worked after. Nevertheless never ever the much less it had been stimulating.
How about “best tongue-in-cheek political blog that nobody’s reading? I think One Man’s Tofu at least qualifies …
Intersting article and very useful, keep sharing, thanks and good luck.
Hello , I do hope that these next elections will be carefully watched as some precincts have been combined with College Campuses and they should be checked for fraud and cheating since much money is given to unions by the Federal government and there shouldnt be free pizza for those who vote for someones candidate for President or otherwise. And those guilty of fraud or intimidation should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Sincerely ;
Keystone Liberty will have to be added to the conservative blog roll. It’s been all but a few weeks since I started following it and it seems to be growing quickly!
I think it is soon time to do best blogs for 2012
Wow! I didn’t even know we were nominated let alone make the final cut. Anyhow, thanx a bunch for the recognition and keep up the good fight
Joe V
Ps. “True Freedom of the Press is owning one.”
Thanks for choosing Politics PA as the Best Political Blog in North West PA. For the few Into the Local Political Scene, Flowers and Guerriero do a Fantastic Job not just in the Campaign 11′ Blog, but some of the best Journalism in the Region. Probably the only true hard news journalists left; Kevin Flowers Special Report on the Bosworth Report of 2001 gets my vote for News Piece of the Year. Kudos.
Ok, so this has nothing to do with what everyone is saying probally, but i need to vent.! i am sooo mad, we were going to get a pet monkey and i just read that they are banned in this state, i literally HATE everything in this horrid state. This is nothing but a common wealth POS! I hae it here, and to those of you who tell me to move, i would if i could, custody battle would be too much! but anyway this is straight bullshit, my kids were soooo excited and not only that but i live in venango county and i got a dui not too long ago, my BL was only a .106 so barely above the limit and i lost my license for a while!!! no one was hurt, 1 veh. ANYWAY my uncle had gotten a dui not too long b4 mine and his was a .30, and didnt lose his license, wtf just cause he knows ppl he doesnt lose his?? thats so not fair and venango county is straight like the saying goes its who you know!! dont ever move here it sucks, also the saying goes around here, you come on vacation and leave on probation, but you cant leave ppl get stuck here!! F*** this place!! we need a tsunami to take it out!!
Glad to see you are TANK -ing everyone who submitted nominations. How about proofreading….
For the record, I consider The Pittsburgh Comet and Infinonymous must reads and CasablancaPA is deserving of their own category: Best Muckrackers.
The only factor that could explain the omission of CasablancaPA is operator error. We wish PoliticsPA better luck next time.
[roasting] Oh, that was great Maria. Well done. I try to go for Bon Jovi more than anything (makes sense for Pittsburgh). You and Dayvoe are like my Emin3m and Dido.
I thought Casablanca PA was richly deserving of a Besty of some kind this year.
To even be included in the same sentence as these true workhorses of the Philly media is an honor. Thanks from Phillydecline!
Oh, and THANKS, PoliticsPA!
Not only do I refuse to be the Taylor Swift of Pittsburgh political blogs, Bram, I have seen Beyonce, I have heard Beyonce, I have added Beyonce to my Favorites list on YouTube. Bram, you’re no Beyonce.
😉
Hey 2PJ’s, I’m really happy for you and I’ma let you finish, but the Pittsburgh Comet is the best ‘burgh-centric and best local political blog of all time. Of all time!
Whispers makes the cut, but not CasablancaPA?
Better luck next year.
re: John Micek’s references to soccer — what’s wrong with soccer ? Soccer rocks, man.
Thanks PoliticsPA for listing http://www.pennpatriotblog.com/ as one of the top conservative blogs in the state.