100 to 3!

cross-posted from Dome-icile

My sheer happenstance, today is the 100th post on my blog. So I was simultaneously honored and amused to learn that my blog has been listed as the third best legislative blog in the country behind Detroit Congressman John Conyers and Texas State Rep. Aaron Pena. The site, called Lawmakers, is all about getting legislators at every level into the blogosphere, which is a fine idea which could know no limits in both the information department nationally and the entertainment department locally.

The site has profiles on some of the bloggers, including Tom Cross, (who they somehow have running for Governor, what are you posting over there Parillo?) and myself. My only gripe is that they stated that the only thing keeping me from being moved up even higher in the rankings was my failure to include Sitemeter on my blog. But after looking at the numbers of the two guys ahead of me, I'm taking solace in the fact that while Conyers' numbers blow mine away, I'm consistently outpacing Pena in readership. (Especially on the days that Rich Miller mentions me:) )

Regardless, several months and 100 posts later, I have come to the following conclusions. It is much more work than I had anticipated. I am still baffled by people who will repeatedly visit my blog and then complain that they don't like what I'm posting. (hint-stop visiting if it bothers you that much).

But most importantly, I think that the blog has succeeded in its main goal of opening the lines of communications between elected officials (at least myself) and the public. And to that end, I am convinced that once my colleagues, at every level, see that I have survived this exercise relatively unscathed, they will be that much more likely to jump in and test the waters themselves. And that would indeed be in everybody's best interest.

So thanks to those of you who visit the blog. I'll keep trying my best to make it worth your while. All I ask is that you recognize that some days my best is better than on other days.

In closing, let me pose this question. Do you think that having blogs by elected officials is a worthwhile endeavor, if so, why aren't more electeds jumping in?