March 17, 2005
Does anyone remember the Horserace Blogger from the 2004 election? Jay Cost, a graduate student in American Politics at the University of Chicago, came late to the election coverage on the blogosphere, and/but displayed an almost preternaturally accurate scepticism of poll data and received wisdom. In the last close and confused days of the race, he was so insightful, so reluctantly confident, that he made a name for himself with many of us.
Jay's sympathies seem to lean Red State-ward, so in his new-and-improved Twitchy Overachieving, he will be writing in-depth analysis (the term is common, the corresponding performance rare) at redstate.org. He looks forward to on-the-ground application of the presumably advanced political theory engaging his parallel life at Chicago.
He hopes his return will be more like Elvis than The Who, though the parallel that comes to mind here is the magnificent Dolly Parton, frozen out of the superficial formats, locating her audience, and singing masterfully just for them. Lots of them.
He promises before long to tackle why Republicans shouldn't be so smug about
Howard Dean. Contrarian tendencies have led us too to suspect that
when even public Democrats deplore Dean, Dean may be better than he seems.
We're dazzled by Jay Cost's mind. Sorry, Jay, it's springtime. Surely you can diplomatically handle a little antique ardor.
Update: So far so good. Jay pins an insight too often overlooked in all sorts of analyses: It's too soon to decide who will be the Presidential nominees in 2008, and he ties it to media, technology, elite demography. Even better, he semi-seriously recommends the pundit Hank Hill for trenchant wisdom in the meantime.
Great break out of the gate and past the first post.
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