The International House of Bacon

Since I never get around to finishing my blogroll, and since people have asked, here are some of my favorite daily political reads. This by no means encompasses everything I read, but certainly acts as the MUST READ blogs and sites of my time. It’ll give folks a good idea as to where I get my information and stay on top of things. In no particular order.

Politics:

* FiveThirtyEight: An electoral projection site. Obama-leaning, former/current Kos contributor, which means that the election analysis is awfully slanted, but the poll analysis is incredibly good. A much better daily indicator via the weighting mechanism he uses than the Real Clear Politics average, in my opinion. If you can get past the occasional Obama cheerleading, it’s worth adding to your RSS feed.

* Jake Tapper’s Political Punch: I’m not sure what he plans to do with this following the election, but, for the moment, Tapper is providing the fairest coverage I’ve seen this election cycle - he’s not afraid to call Obama out, nor is he at all deferential toward the McCain campaign. I have no clue where he stands politically, and that’s how it should be.

* Christianity Today’s Election Coverage: The media seems incapable of dealing with issues of faith properly, and, even though I’m an atheist, it matters. At the very least, this is worth your time to get an angle on the 2008 election that you won’t get from the mainstream.

* EconLog: An economics blog, written in part by Bryan Caplan who wrote The Myth of the Rational Voter. Provides some fascinating insights into general issues thrown out there.

* FactCheck.org: They’ve been shaky lately, but still a great resource.

* GetReligion: A blog based on the premise that the major media doesn’t “get” religion. Hand-in-hand with the Christianity Today election blog, it’s an interesting critique as to how the media handles (or, in some cases, doesn’t handle) religious angles in important stories.

* National Review’s Corner: I’d add in all of their blogs linked on their top bar on this - probably the most respected (and deserving of respect) conservative opinion group available, and their blog listings are good, both for quick-hit discussions as well as larger-scale observations.

* Marginal Revolution: I could have thrown this in a few areas, but this is where it seems to fit best. Libertarian leaning for sure, but still has interesting links and unique thoughts with some current events.

* Mott’s Blog: The blog of Randy Mott, someone I used to play a Senate simulation with. He updates infrequently, but his updates are epic in terms of information. His posts on depleted uranium in particular from a few years back have been indispensable to me.

* Power Line: Honestly, it’s slipped in the last few years, but its take on legal issues and the conservative movement in general are still worth the time to read. There are many blogs that surpass it in terms of up-to-the-minute analysis, but there’s still a good deal of thought that goes here.

* Q and O: Good, libertarian-leaning blog with flashes of great analysis.

* Reason’s Hit and Run: Quite simply, if you’re not reading this blog, you’re making a mistake. Yes, they’re libertarian, but they still have important things to say and are quite spot-on with much of their analysis. This is one of the first true “blogs” I ever read, and I’m glad it’s around.

* The Skeptical Optimist: He single-handedly made me rethink how I look at government debt, and that alone is worth your time. Hopefully he picks up blogging regularly again soon, because his notes on the economic situations in this country have been great.

* The Volokh Conspiracy: Best legal blog on the internet, in my opinion.

* WILLisms: A basic blog, but often lays out general stuff in a great way that makes you remember it later.