Leading This Blog Forward

This has certainly been a hiatus — another hiatus, I should say — of somewhat-epic size and magnitude. For I began work in June as a paid political operative: one of those people everyone generally doesn’t like the sound of but is often too polite to say so. But I was a successful one: as a Field Organizer for the Iowa Democratic Party, I helped make Congress Democratic, I helped elect a new Democratic governor, and I helped turn the State Legislature in Iowa Democratic. This was an excellent year for members of my political persuasion, and working with everyday Iowans proved to be a learning experience.

But the path to raising Iowa’s minimum wage, while paved with good intentions, was pretty taxing (we’re Democrats, after all). I have plenty of stories to share — too many to list here — but I hope to share some with you privately or in passing, now that I have the time to head back into public life (or, rather, life in public).

So please, keep me in mind next time you have something interesting to say. I’ll probably be within reach of my (newish) Blackberry, which I bought for political operative activities and now seldom have a use for (you can email me on it by shooting at blackberry(AT)chasemartyn.com!), so call me. Send me messages. No longer will I have to stop communicating for 15 minutes at a time to give lengthy meta-explanations of absentee ballots to phone-calling volunteers. No longer will I inject poll numbers and campaign gossip unsolicited into our otherwise-enjoyable, if sporadic and ephemeral, communications.

Consider this my (probably temporary) return into pop culture and social interaction. I hope it lasts, and I hope I’m still good at it. We are at the beginning of our new journey, and there’s no telling what the future holds.