Almost a year ago to this day, I started Raising Kaine (RK). Since then, RK arguably has had its successes - helping Tim Kaine defeat Jerry W. Kilgore, first and foremost. And RK arguably has had its failures - failing to push Creigh Deeds to victory over "Taliban Bob" McDonnell, for instance - not to mention losses by Greg Werkheiser, Bruce Roemmelt, Earnie Porta, Hilda Barg, and several others. Overall, however, it's been fun and rewarding, certainly in my case. However, it's also been hard work - many early mornings and late nights. That's fine, as long as I feel we were getting support in terms of readership and comments. On those counts, however, I must be blunt: traffic and comments on this site fell far below my expectations in 2005. And yes, I DO believe those expectations were realistic. True, our site grew consistently over the summer and fall. However, we never came close to "beating" the leading Virginia conservative political blogs, such as Commonwealth Conservative. And, the minute the campaign ended, our visits fell off sharply. Sure, the conservative blogs' readership fell too, but not nearly as much as ours did. The past few days have been a particularly glaring example of that: Commonwealth Conservative had about 3-4 times more visits than we did over the Christmas weekend. What on earth?
All this leaves me wondering, as 2005 turns into 2006: should we keep on "Raising Kaine" for another year? Is it worth the time, energy, (inevitable) personal attacks and aggravation? Do you, the readers of Raising Kaine, believe that we should continue this effort into 2006? Do you believe that the Raising Kaine site should be scrapped, changed dramatically, or mainly stay the same? Do you think we're making a difference, or are we just wasting our time? Have we accomplished our primary mission ("Raising Kaine") and should we just pack it in at this point? Is there less passion among Virginia Democrats than among Republicans? Or is Raising Kaine simply not the right vehicle to reach Virginia Democrats and Progressives? What do you all think? I look forward to your comments, either publicly or privately (lowell@raisingkaine.com). I will also be keeping track of the number and content of comments over the next week or two, consult with the other members of Raising Kaine, and then decide what I personally want to do in the New Year. It's not like I don't have plenty of other things to do in my life, that's for sure!
I don't want to be negative here. No matter what, 2005 was a fascinating and amazing experience. Despite ad hominem attacks by right-wingers, most of which were utterly ridiculous (I was "hurting the Kaine campaign," I was "really a Republican," I was a "far-left liberal," blah blah blah), I personally felt that this site made a difference. I also had a great time, met tons of interesting people and made a lot of new friends. I have been proud to work with such talented and amazing people on this effort. Last but not least, I learned more about Virginia during 2005 than I had ever known before, and most of that was positive.
More than anything, we tried to push this great Commonwealth of ours in a positive, progressive direction. And that, in my opinion, was far superior to just sitting on our butts and whining about how bad things were, how "they're all corrupt," how "nothing will ever change," etc. Blech. Still, it is possible that, in spite of our passion, we did NOT make much of a difference, and that this site has simply been preaching to a (very small) choir.
To reiterate, the question comes down to this: as 2005 rolls into 2006 and we reevalute where we're going in life, should we keep on Raising Kaine? Or not? The choice is, in part, yours. Thanks.