Thanks for reading and thanks for the support
By 
Since we’re doing cat posts today, here’s Ellie, the fierce pirate warrior-cat in her natural habitat (a cardboard box). Unlike the blog’s other two founders, I’ve been a pretty irregular blogger for the last 15-16 of this blog’s 19 years. It turned out I didn’t quite have the stamina and discipline to keep up daily or near-daily posting, and the weight of an actual audience with expectations made it more difficult for me to dash off a quick half-backed post for the hell of it. (Yes, many of my posts are still pretty half-baked; I said difficult, not impossible.) I have nonetheless still cherished this place, as a reader and occasional contributor. I value it as a place where I can occasionally work out a new idea or thought. I also value it as a place where I can try to write for a smart and well-informed but non-academic audience.
I’ve started the election of the day series for several reasons. First, to motivate myself to both keep up on politics around the world, and to get in the habit of posting here semi-regularly again. Secondly, I’ve been kicking around a new assignment involving an election that takes place during the semester for my Introduction to Political Science class in the Fall; doing a bit of research and writing about the elections is helping me think about what I might try to ask my students to do. Without making any promises, I’ve got a few ideas for some blogging on other topics this summer, and maybe a podcast or two if I can work it out. On the election front, June will take us to Guinea-Bissau, Guatemala, Montenegro and Greece (the first country to appear twice in this series, as last month’s election result almost immediately triggered another snap election, for reasons to be explained in the post.) As always, thanks for reading, supporting, and being part of this project.