Random Political Analysis

With all the excitement before the big event tonight, our morning at Comet HQ is a little hectic. We'll just spit some awesome political analysis at you, and call it a day.

Candidate Bill Peduto joined the Honz Man this morning to talk red-lights and blogs. Once again, he trotted out the line that obviously, if he was behind the McIntire story, wouldn't he have held onto it until late April?

Well, no. Releasing it late would minimize its impact, because by April, fewer voters are still undecided. By setting off a scandal in January, a week before your campaign kick-off, awareness and interest in the mayor's race was stretched two months longer than usual. That's key, if you're a challenger who needs to make up a lot of ground in an off-off-year election. Every time we hear this "evidence," we start to wonder.

The P-G reports of nine candidates in the race for District 9 City Council. An anonymous analyst broke it down for the Comet this way: "This is like the race for Homecoming Queen at Taylor Allderdice. Five different Jewish girls are running, so of course the hunky's gonna walk away with the tiara."

Hats off to Jeremy Irons ... I mean, Jeremy Boren, at the Trib, for writing what will remain the finest piece yet on the blurghosphere (for at least another week).

"I don't think we can point to any blogs yet that have had an impact on a huge number of voters," Pitt Prof. Stuart Shulman said. "But a lot of people have looked at blogs as bringing a new level of democratic activity."

"Young people expect a level of interaction and real-time delivery of news and information, and blogs provide that more successfully than mainstream media outlets," said Khari Mosley of the League of Young Voters. "So blogs, message boards and online communities of all kinds become like virtual coffee shops where you can find out what your neighbors are talking about and join the conversation."

And, of course, there was the Burgh Report's coup, stumping the Mayor on the propriety of allowing City Solicitor George Specter to remain Acting for so long.

Finally, KDKA's Jon Delano now has his own blog, and let me tell you it is just adorable!!! His first question -- whether or not blogs ought to be taken seriously -- has resulted in just two content-screened comments thus far: "Unfortunate" and "Ridiculous." Rest assured, the Comet will be tracking the goings-on of this HOT new blogitrolla.

UPDATE: The Busman proves he's hipper than all of us with an Audio-Mashup of Peduto and Ravenstahl discussing Blurghosphgate with him..