Also Also Wins a Niewy!

I've neglected to mention this since they were released, so we're belatedly proud to announce that Also Also has been given a David Niewert Award by the Northwest Progressive Institute, for excellence in political coverage of Washington state issues by a non-WA blog. We're just as proud to share the award with Preemptive Karma, who worked closely with me on stories about the electoral challenge to Gov. Gregoire. Here's what Andrew had to say about it:

One of the major political events in the region this year - perhaps the biggest political event of the year - was the Washington State Republican Party's attempt to unseat Gov. Christine Gregoire by challenging the outcome of the 2004 gubernatorial election. The GOP's legal challenge was accompanied by a public relations firestorm that sought to paint Gregoire and the state's Democrats as cheaters who had stuffed ballot boxes and committed fraud in order to win the election. Washington State's progressive bloggers fought back against such mistruths, but they had help from two outstanding peers from Oregon - Carla of Preemptive Karma and T.J. of Also Also. Over a period of several months, Carla and T.J. worked tirelessly to help debunk the misinformation that was being spread by the Republicans' media campaign, exposing the truth about military ballots, voting tabulation, and other issues. Additionally, Also Also provided excellent analysis of the trial that took place at the end of the election challenge. Washingtonian progressives owe these two Oregonians their sincere thanks for a job well done.

Aw, shucks. Tweren't nuthin'!

I'd like to point you towards the comprehensive archive of WA Gov stories by Also Also--but I haven't made one. They're scattered primarily in the "Politics Horserace" section of the archives, but some entries--particularly the ones where I lampoon SoundPolitics' Stefan Sharkansky--may be elsewhere. Happily, NPI has taken care of that as well--many of the best entries are located in their coverage guide at NWPortal.

I went a little nuts and tried to liveblog the trial via internet feed from o you can read the results from the links listed, May 24th to June 6. Other highlights include two lengthy pieces on the initial hearings for the trial, here and then again here. But what I suppose won the award for PK and us was the two part "Fisking Sharkansky" series, begun here and then completed a couple days later here. Those articles pointed out the fact that while King County's tabulations were certainly subject to error, so too were those of every county--and King's results weren't substantively worse by comparison.

It's quite an honor to receive the award, especially since:

1) We don't live in Washington
2) We just got started as a blog a month after the whole election challenge brouhaha began
3) we've let our bribes to NPI lapse

It's also quite gratifying to carry the name of the author of Orcinus, a blog we greatly respect and enjoy. I hope he doesn't mind that I've shortened the name of the award in "Grammy"-type fashion; I'm going to call them The Niewys.

So we're blessed and thankful to have been recognized with PK, and in fact Also Also will be bringing you more of that award-winning collaboration in 2006. Stay tuned, and make sure you check out the other recognized blogs who got a Niewy this year. They are worth the perusal.

--TJ

Comments

[Donnageddon]

Congrats TJ! Keep up the great work!

[Daniel K]

Well deserved TJ.

[Torrid]

thanks, guys.