Top 7 in 2007: Bloggers

Since my top 10 lists were so popular last year, I will have a few "Top 7 in 2007" pieces to finish 2007 strong.

While I have had a great deal of fun writing the past year, I have been blessed to have worked with numerous bloggers across the state.

Keeping with the holiday season, the following bloggers/blogs are in the "Land of the misfit bloggers". These are bloggers who publish excellent content but in many cases, are under exposed in the Minnesota blogosphere.

7. Residual Forces: What? Blueman has a righty blog in his top 7? What the...
Andy tends to tick off both righties and lefties with his work. I don't necessarily agree with most of his work, but I like how he goes about his work on the blog.

6. Developers are Crabgrass: Eric Z's work on exposing the incestial nature of the local government relationships in the Northern suburbs is top notch! His work on Elwyn Tinklenberg's lobbying ties is equally as excellent!

5. Dump Mark Olson: Avidor's work this past year on the Mark Olson domestic violence case and his PRT boondoggle have been excellent and consistent. No one is better with photoshop either! I'm looking forward to Avidor covering the Olson House race in 08.

4. Beyond Headlines and Sound Bites: Tom and the crew at BHSB compliment Avidor's work on Mark Olson and issues within Sherburne County and bring a much needed voice to the race in the 6th.

3. Liberal in the Land of Conservative: Political Muse is the newest edition to the Minnesota Liberal Blogophere and his work has been awesome. Whether it's dissecting another vote by Congresswoman Bachmann, opining on the CD 6 race, or his You Tube work, Political Muse is a welcome edition to the blogging scene and his work is excellent. Plus, he's pimping Joe Biden, which instantly gains my respect for not riding the coat tails of the "Top 3".

The voting for all of the Top 7 was hotly contested. Following the precedence of the 2000 elections, I have not counted the hanging chads. So...

2. I Don't Hate America: A blogging team from Southeastern MN (Winona State University) stepped up the to plate in 2007 and knocked it out of the part. DJ, Jason, Ian and Jared wrote about student issues, local politics, CD 1 and Tim Walz, Al Franken, and a ton of other important issues. I am looking forward to the great stuff IDHA will publish in 2008.

1. Bluestem Prairie: Ollie probably gets the most traffic of our Top 7. Her stuff is just really good. While exclusively covering the happenings in the "Fighting 1st", Ollie offers thought provoking advice to novice bloggers like myself while setting high journalist standards for the Minnesota Blogosphere. Her work in the "Fighting 1st" will pay big dividends for the 08 elections. More important though is her role as a mainstream media watchdog.

So Congrats to those in the "Land of Misfit Bloggers". While your work may go unnoticed (or at least un-cited) by others in the blogosphere, many of us recognize your important work and I just want to say thanks!

2008 is going to be a fun year...