Welcome Note

As the site gets set up over the next few weeks, it would probably be nice to know who is making this whole "Politics Done Right" thing. As the URL for this blog implies, my name is Chris Duva, I am 20 years old and a college student. While that may not sound like much of a background from which to talk shop about politics, consider the following: At the ripe old age of 14, during the height of the 2004 election I volunteered for the campaign of John Kerry (D-MA). Most of what I did then was making phone calls. I am originally from Ann Arbor, MI and it was in that heavily Democratic area that I got my interest in all things politics. In college I am majoring in Communications and hope to go into talk radio as a voice for the center, which I feel is under represented on your radio dial. I take in 6-8 hours a day of political talk and read every new item from the following sources daily:

Electoral-Vote.com - Provides various projections and election analysis from a U.S. Citizen living in India, with a degree in both computer programming and political science. Tries to be as fair as possible in his analysis and is not one to mince words.

Politifact.com - Founded in 2007, this is The Saint Petersburg Times of Florida's fact-checking operation. It has fact-checks from The national Politifact site and has recently branched Out With State Partnership Sites. Current States Are: Florida (Saint Petersburg Times/Miami Herald, Georgia (Atlanta Journal Constitution or AJC) , Ohio (Cleveland Plain Dealer) , Rhode Island (Providence Journal) , Texas (Austin American Statesman) and Wisconsin (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) . More state sites are "In The Works". Politifact also features "The Oba-meter" which currently has ratings and analysis on the progress of 525 of President Obama's campaign promises.

Factcheck.org - The internets original fact-checkers, this is a non-profit project of The Annenburg Public Policy Center at The University of Pennsylvania. Founded in 2004, it has become a beacon for people such as Scott McClellan who cited it in his critique of the actions of the Bush Administration while he was press secretary. They have various features and in-depth analysis of political controversies and in the 2010 campaign have focused heavily on political ads.

Politico.com - Ever heard the term "Politico"? While the word actually describes the people involved in shaping and advising political campaigns and political junkies like myself, this is the premier newspaper and information source on Capital Hill. Many of the statements that are cited on TV News come from Politico. Much of the opinion in the publication is from respected authors of political analysis such as: Roger Simon, Josh Gerstein, Ben Smith and Laura Rozen

Gallup.com - This is one of the most trusted polling firms in the country. Polls registered voters rather than likely voters, this causes the polls to skew to the middle range of public opinion. However the flaw in this strategy is that their polling is not indicative of final results on the Republican - Democratic split in a given election based on their "generic ballot results".

What can I say? I'm a bit of a political junkie apparently. When
writing my commentaries I try to be open, fair and honest with what I say about these issues, which is why it is worth mentioning that while I do consider myself a political independent I find myself leaning to the right on many issues of fiscal policy. Socially I am very liberal and in a subsequent post I will address those issues and my positions on them. I feel that it is important to be transparent with you the reader because this is really a relationship built on trust.

I hope you enjoy what I write as much as I enjoy putting my thoughts here everyday.

- Chris Duva