Thanks to Chris Bowers for giving me this opportunity and to the MyDD community for being so welcoming. Some of you may know me as CGG which was my old name here for commenting.

Yesterday was one of the craziest days I've experienced in Connecticut Politics, and believe me with last year's Senate race I've witnessed some serious political craziness.  First, Lou DeLuca The Republican State Senate minority leader, was arrested, and charged with conspiracy to commit threatening.  The arrest was the result of a longtime investigation into mob influence on the State's trash hauling industry.  Then, late last night, after two years of essentially doing nothing about energy, the CT House overwhelmingly passed an energy bill compromise that probably won't do anything to lower our sky high electric rates.

As I'm following both of these stories, my new gig here at MyDD is always on my mind.  What should my first post be about? How do I balence work at both blogs, especially when so much is going on here at home?

At some point after the energy bill had gone through and I'd stopped making frantic phone calls to get more information, it occurred to me that yesterday was a perfect example of why blogging at the state and local level is so important.  Bloggers here have been hard at work covering the Legislative session.  Anyone who follows politics on sites like My Left Nutmeg and CT Local Politics could put both of yesterday's events into context quickly.  They knew that Senator DeLuca was a ticking time bomb, and that dueling energy bills were making their way through our House and Senate. CT bloggers had worked long and hard to give citizens a window into the State Legislature.

Through blogging about State and local issues I've learned a great deal about how my elected government operates, and hopefully those reading along have too. Before this year I had a general idea of how a bill became law in Connecticut. Now I have a thorough understanding of the process. That experience helps me as a blogger, a voter, and most importantly as an advocate for issues I care about.

One of my favorite things about local blogging is the low barrier to entry. Anyone can start covering their state legislature, or municipal government and put their work online. The local media often does a mediocre job of covering this stuff, and there's an audience out there hungry for more information. Communtiy blogs like those on the MyDD States Blogroll offer an instant audience where good work will get noticed and provide a valuable service to others in the community.

Perhaps I'm just preaching to the choir here but I would encourage any aspiring political bloggers out there to blog local. Movements are built from the bottom up, and I can't think of a better place to begin than in your own backyard.