It takes a village to raise a blog

PR Newswire, that busy source of tips and announcements that fills our e-mail boxes just as press releases used to fill those wire in-baskets, has some highly relevant-to-blogging content. Survey results passed on by the wire service show that Austin leads the nation in blogger-residents, with Portland (Oregon, not the colder one with the real port and affordable real estate in the Northeast) San Francisco and Seattle coming in next. Spokane makes an appearance well down the chart. I learned this, appropriately enough, by reading what looks to be Portland's newest blog, PDX Perspectives, launched this past Saturday. In a crowded field jammed with more posers than a Belltown bar on a Saturday night, this latest cyber-ruminate deserves points for such an unaffected profile: Things I'm generally interested in: science, technology, ethical business practices, politics, city planning, transportation, architecture, sports (especially baseball), and some popular culture. Not so interested in: network TV, most popular music, any movie with Adam Sandler or Jim Carrey in it. Things I dislike: George W. Bush and Republicans generally, car culture, air travel in the post-9/11 world, and lots of other stuff that isn't occurring to me right now. My trusty Suspici-O-Meter did just sound a muffled alarm, though, because the unnamed blogger's Monday post is praise for a Portland mayoral candidate that sounds just a tad disingenuous: I know I should pay more attention to my city government than I do, and maybe I'll start in time for the next election, but Sam Adams seems to me like just the right kind of guy to be mayor of Portland. Scarborough, the research folks who brought us news about the bloggiest cities ought to float this survey question: What percentage of bloggers who plug political candidates work or volunteer for said politicos? In the meantime, welcome to blog world, buddy. You're two days old and already bookmarked.