We all have our favourites and these are mine. I haven't tried to make this a critic's list - rather what it is a list of the blogs I read most often.

Where the Energy Is

MyDD is the one stop shop for electoral politics from a Democratic point of view. It is probably the most influential blog on the left hand side of the aisle, and it is read by heaping handfuls of party insiders and activists. Matt Stoller isn't just the hardest working man in blogging, he's also probably the most influential man in blogging. Chris Bowers is probably the most influential electoral analyst you can read for free and the other writers are all good, competent hacks. If you want to know where the liberal activist blogosphere is heading, you have to read MyDD.

FireDogLake is another place where the activist energy resides - this is where the high activity regular citizens hang out - the volunteers, the true believers, the people who donate, and the people who care passionately. When FDL gets behind a project, the project gets moving, because FDL's readers give a very personal damn. People tend to either love or hate FDL, and they've done and said controversial things - but whatever your opinion, the FDL community gets things done.

AmericaBlog John Aravoisis may have the canniest instincts of any political blogger I know. He was the first blogger I'm aware of to realize that Foley was going to blow and blow big. He has organized multiple succesful media campaigns around issues such as Gannon and Microsoft's hiring of Christian bigots, and he has gotten results. As with FDL people either hate or love Americablog, John and his friends, but they get results and if you want to know what's going on, you should be reading Americablog.

It's about the writing

The News Blog by Steve Gilliard and Jen. I don't always agree with Steve, and Steve is wrong more often than his prose would make you think, but the writing style brings me back every day, and sometimes more than once a day. Steve is the bare knuckle brawler of bloggers (without descending into the dirty fighting of a blogger like the Rude Pundit) - he tells it like he sees it and he holds nothing back.

James Wolcott. If Gilliard's the bare knuckle brawler of the blogs, then Wolcott is the old master. People take a swing at him and he's not there to be hit, then he moves in on them and while you're not quite sure what happened at the end of it they're in a heap on the floor. But the real delight of reading Wolcott is his prose, which stretches a metaphor to just before the snapping point.

TBogg We've all got our favourite snark blogger, and TBogg is mine. TBogg's deft put downs have just the right high school tone required to infuriate saps like Goldberg who have never left adolescence.

And hey, I love Basset Hounds.

Listen to the Experts

Sic Temper Tyrannis

Pat Lang's blog is the place to go for no nonsense military and middle eastern information. Pat fought in Vietnam, has taught strategy and tactics, reads and writes Arabic, and knows what the hell he's talking about.

The Economonitor. Felix Salomon would probably tell you he's not an expert. But the Economonitor tracks the economic news of the day - every weekday - so that I don't have to. He reads the main economics blogs and the main newspapers and magazines, and points to the important or interesting posts and articles. If you don't have time to read it all yourself, you could do a lot worse than relying on the Economonitor to filter it for you - or to listen to Felix's first take on most issues.

Just Good

Pogge - I'm listed as one of the authors, though I write almost nothing for them. But they were my favourite Canadian blog long before I joined the crew and I still think they are the best one stop shop for the progressive, and generally sensible, view of Canadian politics.

Magikthise - I'm not quite sure why I like Lindsay's blog. Perhaps it's that I'm never quite sure what I'll find on any given visit - original reporting, hairsplitting philosophy, standard political blogging, activism, or perhaps a photograph. No matter, I check in at least once a day, curious as to what Lindsay's latest is.

Feministing I spent about half my university time studying feminism and I retain an interest to this day. Feministing is a way of getting my fix in an agreeable form. If you want a window into the feminist blogosphere, Feministing is probably the best one, as they have both wide and eclectic coverage in an accesible (ie. jargon free) form.

What are some of your favourite blogs?

Why?