I am Excellent

So says Judy Aron over at Consent of the Governed who has graciously awarded me the E for Excellence Award for blogging. I deeply appreciate the nomination from such an experienced blogger who regularly offers such great content over at COTG.

To accept, according to the rules, I must nominate at least another ten blogs which I believe to be excellent. I am nominating 11 blogs.

1. Everyday Republican - I think CT Republicans have made great strides this past year in breaking out in the blogosphere. Everyday Republican has been one of the steady lamplights in the dark, out in front, helping lead the way. Plus, I am a front-pager there now, and I am shameless.

2. Fly Right - I always get a kick out of the offerings of Fly Right, and this blog has turned out to be an enjoyable and fun offering on the conservative side.

3. Authentic Connecticut Republican - ACR is never really afraid of pissing people off. Some of his positions shock me sometimes. And I love it! Another great conservative blogger that I enthusiastically endorse.

4. CTTAXED - This blog really has some distinct and nuanced offerings. I am a bit hard-headed when it comes to economics, so a lot of this material goes over my head. But it is one of the few blogs I can credit with actually teaching me a thing or two.

5. Connecticut Commentary - Don Pesci regularly offers some reflective and insightful thinking. His journalistic instincts can make his posts long, so be prepared to settle in for a read... but the result is most often well worth the time invested. Good stuff.

6. Capitol Watch - Yes... Mark Pazniokas and Christopher Keating are a part of the "official" media with the Hartford Courant. Their posts on the doings up at the Capitol are usually very insightful, and oftentimes clever. They have provided me with a lot of source material being right in the center of the action in Hartford as they are. They also don't let people get away with any crap, Republican or Democrat, and that's always good.

7. The King's View - I'm glad that "The King" contacted me some time ago. Since then I have regularly checked in on his musings. The offerings of this gifted Anglophile and Theodore Roosevelt enthusiast are constantly getting more and more entertaining.

8. Connecticut Bob - Whoa! A liberal! That's right. I very rarely agree with anything Connecticut Bob posts, but he is, in my opinion, one of the standard bearers of the Connecticut political blogosphere. He also has a sense of humor, and to me, that's critical. A lot of political bloggers, particularly on the left, take themselves too seriously, or are overly bitter. Not Connecticut Bob - what you see is what you get, and that's mostly quality.

9. Roadrunner Droppings - I don't know where this guy came from, but he is definitely mentally ill. Sometimes I think he is conservative. Sometimes I think he is libertarian. And sometimes I think he hasn't properly treated a maddening case of syphilis. But I have laughed out loud reading his stuff sometimes. It's usually guilty laughter that I'm glad no one else saw.

10. Adam J. Schmidt.com - I like this kid's blog. He's a good young conservative. Plus, I can't wait to see how his planned escape from Washington D.C. turns out. I am prepared to send Snake Pliskin in to help rescue him if he needs it.

11. CT Local Politics - Last but certainly not least comes CT Local Politics, another place I currently have the honor to front page at. This blog is unlike any other... liberals and conservatives (and I think communists sometimes) meet on the cyber-hustings and sometimes engage in high-minded enlightening debate... and sometimes descend into a cacophony of lowbrow insults. Genghis Conn has created a unique place where a variety of blogging worlds collide, and I expect it will be a the hub of the CT political blogosphere for a long time to come.

So these are my eleven nominations. They are not all-inclusive... there really isn't enough space to write about all the good blogs out there. But I salute all the authors involved in the projects I noted above.