Centersphere

The Best and Brightest in the Moderate & Centrist Independent Blogosphere, and Organizations Working to Unite the Country Around Our Shared Priorities – v1.9

I make no claim to this being a definitive list, and I have been making an effort of late to update it with more of the fantastic blogs I’ve come across over the last year. I encourage you to submit suggestions through the contact form tab on the top bar, or in the comments below, if you think I have left out a site who should be here, see someone who you don’t think should be on the list, or any other modification. I have made several changes based on feedback from the first version of this that I made in a post over a year ago.

Also, feel free to copy and paste this page, as long as you do so in it’s entirety, without editing and leaving the links intact.

CLICK HERE for a similar list of the best twitter feeds from moderates of all stripes & centrist independent types.

• Donklephant – Justin Gardner runs this absolute staple for moderates, with the tongue in cheek tag line of “Big Teeth. Huge Ass. Surprisingly Reasonable.” Its a great place for some good political chatter, and fun. He’s been around a while and has earned a large following. I cut my teeth blogging on national blog sites there myself, and still find this center-left site one of my personal favorites.

• John Avlon – I’m making an exception here, to mention a specific person and not a website. John Avlon doesn’t have a blog per se… although he has a column at what you could consider a professional blogging site, The Daily Beast. Since they merged with Newsweek, he’s has some content in that mag, and he’s also a regular political analyst on CNN. He’s written two great books, one from a few years ago on the need for the center of the American electorate to rise up and another on political extremists, is a political analyst for CNN and is probably the best centrist pundit around these days. I connected with him at the No Labels launch, and we’ve communicated several times since. In my mind he’s the preeminent centrist pundit in major media.

• Outside the Beltway – This moderate conservative (they call themselves classically liberal) blog has been around since 2003, which might explain why the traffic ranking sites list it as the highest traffic site on this list. In general it is probably the most professionally put together site on the list, and I scan over their headlines just about every day.

• Resurrecting Democracy – This is the blog of Robert Levine, the author of a fantastic book of the same name. In his book, and on his blog, he argues for the formation of a centrist third party, as well as related issues. Another of the bloggers on this list that I invited into the bullpen here, who doesn’t post often (approximately once a week), but his material is top notch.

• The Center Strikes Back – This is Larry Bradley’s blog – another published author and contributor to this site. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Larry in person a couple times (he also lives here in fair Omaha, NE), and he’s anther great example of someone who doesn’t put out a ton of content each week, but the content is very good. His book, Neither Liberal nor Conservative Be, is a nice overview of the political landscape and talks about what centrists and moderates can do to start fighting back against the two party system.

• The New Moderate – Rick Bayan has been at it since 2007. I’ve had the pleasure of talking with him a bit by email, and his site has moved into the “First Read” section of my RSS feeds. This site falls into the category of blogs that don’t post all of the time, but when they do, they’re in depth, insightful and well within the centrist/moderate big tent.

• The Future American – Jess Chapman, who is a regular contributor here at Rise of the Center, is a recent college grad and Canadian talk show producer with ambitions of becoming the next John Avlon – a centrist political pundit in the United States. She covers national politics, occasionally mentions Canadian politics, and also some Northern Midwest coverage.

• Regaining the Center – This is the personal blog of another Rise of the Center regular contributor – Jack Lewis. Jack is consistently thoughtful, honest and his coverage of business matters is where I think he really shines.

• The Pragmatic Center – I actually had the pleasure of meeting Nick Goebel, who runs this site, at the No Labels launch several months ago. Definitely a left lean, but has his head on straight and writes a decent post. His blog is a mix of common sense political talk on national and Michigan state politics.

• The Center Lane – John Burke’s site is another one of my favorites. The Center Lane is a place you can go and always expect very high quality content. It chooses quality over quantity, but the quality is very very good, and well within the centrist/moderate big tent.

• David Frum – David Frum is a breath of fresh air among republicans these days. Reasonable, usually moderate and smart… but still conservative. Used to have his own moderate conservative blog site, called Frum Forum, but he shut that down when The Daily Beast hired him to write for them. Frum Forum will be missed, but it’s good to see Frum got picked up by what is, in my opinion the best team of political columnists anywhere.

• Rise of the Center – You may have heard of this new-ish blog that some guy from Omaha with a weird name runs… he’s quite the political junkie, I hear, and has an acute addiction to twitter, haha. Fastest growing centrist blog around. Seriously though, it’s been a priviledge to be at the core of the growing centrist and moderate blogosphere.

CLICK HERE to check out our sister site’s Amazon bookstore, with books I personally recommend as some of the best from centrist and moderate voices over the last several years.

OTHER BLOGS & NEWS SITES OF INTEREST

• POLI-TEA – This is the personal blog of Damon Eris, who posts in several other places, from CAIVN, to Independent Political Report. One of the top voices in the the independent, his blog is another must read. He’s not exactly a moderate, but he’s as against the two party system as you’ll find anywhere. I met him at the conference of independents in New York City several months back, and you’ll see some of his material on this site fairly regularly.

• Independent Political Report – This is the most popular site on this entire list. There is a mix of independent politics (defined generally… including all non major party related news… mainstream, fringe and everything in between). A good place to keep track of the forces fighting the two party system.

• Third Party and Independent Daily – This site doesn’t just stick to centrist type stuff, as any third party groups are discussed, but there is a lot of great coverage of smaller stories you don’t see anywhere else, related to those on the front lines of the war against the two party system. If you really want to keep your finger on what is going around with all the major groups that are trying to pare down the two party duopoly, this is a great place to start, along with IPR.

• Independent Rage – As the name would suggest, this puppy is a pit bull. He doesn’t pull punches, doesn’t censor himself, has Nirvana set to play when you load the site, is generally just a riot… and he likes posting pics of scantily clad women, so take all of that in mind. In his own words “Being serious about politics all the time is not everyone’s cup of tea, and so I really do try to mix up my blog with a combination of the fun and the serious.” But look past all that and you see someone who has a pretty interesting, and has a very honest perspective. He used to talk more about politics, but now it’s mostly making fun of stupid people in the news. Gotta mix some fun stuff in here, right?

• Mildly Relevant Thoughts – Yet another blogger, this one mostly video blogging (which is a nice change of pace), who I’ve had the pleasure of talking to a bit. Much like Independent Rage, this one is… not exactly serious, and at times downright raunchy, but its all in good spirited fun. Check his site out for reliably funny and biting commentary on the absurd circus that is American politics.

• All Things Reform – This is a pretty heady site, mostly dealing with electoral reform issues. It isn’t about centrist politics, but most of it is what you might call ‘transpartisan’, that any good intentioned politico would support, and/or want to know about.

• Ballot Access News – Richard Winger is a nationally recognized election law expert, and has been maintaining a newsletter of election reform updates since (no joke) 1987. He started his blog back in 2004, and is the best place online to keep up with election related news that I’m aware of. He’s yet another example of someone I’ve had the pleasure of talking to a few times over the last year, and is a super nice (and super wonky) guy.

• Moderate Voters – This site doesn’t actually produce content, but rather collects news from all over the web that they see as being related to moderates. Seriously though, they do a heck of a job scouring the news sites for stuff moderates might want to know about. A great resource.

• Columbia Journalism Review – While we do need people out there speaking from our political perspective, even more important than that is the existence of a healthy fourth estate. The sorry state of modern journalism breaks at the shores of this fine institution. This is among the group of sources I look first each day for post ideas for a reason.

• Factcheck.org – First of the two major fact check organizations, a project of the Annenburg Public Policy Center. An absolute staple.

• Politifact – The second major fact checking organization. This one was a creation of the St. Petersberg Times, a newspaper in Florida, and earned the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the 2008 elections. Their system is spreading to other papers around the country… and not a second too soon. Every paper in the country would do well to have something like this keeping the politicians at least a little more honest. Now if we could just get more people to read the news, and quit watching garbage cable “news”…

• CQ Roll Call Daily Briefing – This is actually an email newsletter type thing that you can sign up for. It’s a good run down of what is happening around Washington, and has links to a few major stories at the end. One email I rarely don’t read most of the way through.

• Uncovered Politics – One of the bloggers there (Austin Cassidy) is a co-founder of Independent Political Report & Third Party Watch. They’ve been a bit lax in keeping blog posts up lately, but they talk a lot about independents of all stripes.

Again, if you come across any blogs that are maintained by moderates (left or right leaners) or more staunch centrists, that post regularly and have high quality content, please tell me about it in the comments, or through the contact tab above. There are several sites I’ve come across recently that I’m just starting to get a feel for, but don’t assume I’ve already found a site if you don’t see it on here. We’re always looking for fresh blood to bring onto the team here at Rise of the Center, so if you’re an aspiring blogger, or already have a blog but aren’t getting much traffic, hit us up and we’ll talk.

Organizations Spearheading the Effort to Build the Foundation of a Moderate & Centrist Independent Opposition

• Americans Elect – Formerly Unity ’08, Americans Elect is working to get a bipartisan, ideologically balanced presidential ticket on the ballot in all 50 states. From the looks of things, they’re going to be successful in at least most states. It remains to be seen who will be picked as their candidate, but if a solid centrist/moderate type wins out, it could be a pivotal moment in the evolution of an opposition to the two party system.

•  No Labels – While many have been disappointed in how No Labels hasn’t been more of a ‘MoveOn.org for centrists and moderates’, they still are doing great work. I’d like to see them be more aggressive, and also be more overtly centrist, but they are doing a decent job of pushing common sense legislative ideas, building buzz and highlighting some of the worst examples of hyper-partisan rancor that lies at the root of many of our problems. For centrist and moderate activists, and opponents of extreme partisanship, this is the place to be.

• Moderate Party of Rhode Island – Led by Ken Block, an occasional contributor here, MPRI is one of the handful of trailblazing state parties that is laying the foundations for bigger and better things to come for centrists and moderates. They met their goal of getting ballot qualified for the next two election cycles last year, and are aiming at running local and state level candidates over the next two cycles. Other states could learn a lot from these folks, and right now I see them as the organization to watch in this space.

• Independence Party of Minnesota – Since 1992, the Independence Party of Minnesota has been working to represent the will of the vital center in their state. They linked up with the Reform Party when they were big, and are really the only notable organization I’m aware of that has weathered the storm of the Reform Party’s near demise (they technically still exist, but are all but starting from scratch now). I’ve talked with some of their staff, and they have their heads on straight. I’m hoping to see big things from them in the next few years, as they rally to organize the rising tide of centrists, moderates and independents in their state.

• The Reform Party – In the heydays of the mid 90′s, the Reform Party looked to be shaping up to something that might be the lasting centrist/moderate opposition to the two majors parties that our country so desperately needs. Unfortunately, Ross Perot ran a second time, in 1996, doing much worse than the previous run, and the party began to splinter. In 2000, Patrick Buchanan essentially made a hostile takeover of the party with a bunch of social conservatives, and the party almost fell apart entirely. It has been in disarray until very recently, and they are working to build back up. From what I’ve gathered, they’re building from almost scratch in most places they have volunteers on the ground, but they appear to have the sort of realistic approach to party building that third party groups I don’t list here often lack. I hope to see more from them in coming years.

• Moderate Party of California – Led by Ash Roughani, also an occasional contributor here, the Moderate Party of California is still in it’s infancy, and aims to work on gaining ballot access during the 2013 and 2014 election cycle. I’ve talked to Ash several times, and unlike other efforts I come across regularly, has a long term vision and is realistic about his chances and how he needs to go about realizing them. These are rare things with third party types, and much of the reason why I think he has a good shot of succeeding to get his party started right in the next few years.

• Project on Government Oversight – The name doesn’t sound too scary, but they are one of the best sources that dig into, and watch for news on, government corruption and obfuscation.

• Concord Coalition – I think I get more usable content about debt and deficit for my blog from these guys than most other sources put together. They do an excellent job of breaking down our fiscal issues and coming up with ideas as to how we can begin to start fixing them.

• Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget – These folks are a branch organization to the New America foundation, and are right up there with the Concord Center in their commitment to a sane fiscal future for our country. We have the pleasure of having two of the economists from the CRFB posting here occasionally – Chris Dreibelbis, who’s personal blog is called Policy Daddy, and Jeff Vanke, a former independent congressional candidate.

• New America Foundation – As mentioned directly above, the NAF is a wide ranging think tank that generally sticks to a center-left perspective on most things. One of a few places where you can see serious research, from a mainstream perspective, into outside of the box thinking on major issues.

• Third Way – This is a center-left think tank that is one of the more vigorous defenders of moderate politics today. They do a great job of boiling their ideas down so they can be digested by less wonky types, and I find myself blogging about, and sharing, their material here regularly.

• Sunlight Foundation – The Sunlight Foundation is one of the few organizations that can accurately claim the label of transpartisan, as it works exclusively on the issue of transparency – something no ideology can reasonably argue against. Great cause, and a great organization.

• The Breakthrough Institute – If I had to recommend a single environmental think tank to centrists, this would be the one. They do definitely lean left, but they have a long term perspective that is prescient in comparison to most others in the field.

• Progressive Fix – This is the blog of one of the major center-left think tanks. Consistently smart, liberal to moderate, content.

• Republican Youth Majority – The three main tenets they mention on their front page says its all. They are pro-choice, pro-environment and fiscally conservative, just like most of the country. Hopefully they’ll eventually realize the republican party no longer is a place they are welcome and join the independent groundswell.

• Republican Main Street Partnership – This is the closest thing to the republican version of the Blue Dog Democrats. I’d love to see folks like Scott Brown, Mark Kirk, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe officially start their own group of independent moderates, but this will have to do for now.

• Free and Equal – This nonpartisan election reform group led the way against the horribly damaging Top Two Choke Point. They’re a place where all of the non-major party groups (including fringe groups) come together over common cause. A very transpartisan type open election reform group that all but hard core partisans who defend closed election rules benefiting the two party system can find something to agree with, and even some two major party types that see that open and fair elections are more important than anything else.

IN MEMORIUM

• The Moderate Voice – This site has been around for years and years, and gets an enormous amount of traffic, even though the design is hideous and they have so many ads it might be mistaken as a spam site. Until a few years ago, when they took a hard left turn, it was my favorite blog. At one point in time they were a place where you could get a fantastic range of opinions from moderate left to moderate right, and when they began bringing flaming liberals onto the team, and weeding out the right leaners, they stopped living up to their own name. Most of the content there is mainstream liberal, although not generally extreme, with some moderate content mixed in still. In a way I should thank TMV for their devolution, in that the loss of a high quality blog site with contributors spanning moderate left to moderate right was a major motivation for me starting this site, using that very model. I mourn the loss of the site it used to be, and hope it decides to live up to its name once again someday. Until then, we’ll do the best we can to pick up the slack here at Rise of the Center.