That being said, I think this sort of robust, scientific political analysis is immensely fascinating. Additionally, I can read about political news without any spin. My issue with the partisan nature of modern politics is that I feel that people are marginalized to extremes by the dominance of strongly opinionated blogs. In general, it seems to stifle real dialog. The reaction to this thinking can be seen in the support for independent political news for FiveThirtyEight.com and RealClearPolitics.com, as well as others. Both of those sites swelled to millions of unique visitors in the months before the presidential election. Clearly, there is a large contingency of the public that is also sick of our current incendiary politics.

Also, my more general complaint with blogging is that I’m a sucker for traditional journalism. I’d much prefer to read a talented writer who cites verifiable sources than the disjunctive rantings of an extremist who equally sifts from and contributes to the rumor mill.

On the other hand, what’s wrong with all the politically biased blogs? If they want to stand up on their soapboxes, let them. No one else is really obliged to listen. And you can always choose to respond with your own equally biased opinions (should your opinion happen to be biased; maybe it isn’t). This is what the internet has given us- the opportunity to sound as stupid as we want for the entire world to see. If they want to avail themselves of that opportunity, by all means, let them. And if you want to ignore them, feel free to do so. I think part of what makes the political race so much fun is the fact that you get to hear all of these vehement arguments in one direction or the other, citing questionable sources and making sweeping judgments. I get to sit back and have a good laugh. As Toni said, the best way to know what a candidate is about is to look at their individual policy proposals, and to check their voting records on other issues.