Within the Margin

When Matt and I started this up, we wanted a quick-and-dirty working title. Using our respective surnames seemed simple and appropriate enough. However, the flexibility of the name “Kelly” means that one could just as easily mistake our site for the work of someone named “Kelly Clausen.” There are in fact Kelly Clausens out there – it’s a good Irish name, of course – which makes it even less helpful to use that moniker for our own branding. So with a packed fall schedule on the docket (more on that in a minute) now is a good time for a change.

Within the Margin evokes the thought of polling data, and obviously if you’re going to talk about campaigns and elections, you’re going to talk about polls. But they are really good number-crunchers out there, putting out quality work that helps to inform our own, so our focus is not purely data-driven. We want to look at stories, character, and ramifications for governing.

And we want to put together some ratings and predictions. We want to be your go-to source for finding out the state of play in the House and Senate races across the nation. So we’ll have lots of coverage to that effect between now and November 6, along with some discussion of debates, messaging and so forth. Everything’s fair game. Time permitting, we’ll take a quick look at the gubernatorial races around the country, and bring it all back to the local scene for the New York state assembly and senate races. And I suppose we’ll weigh in on the presidential race too. It’s ambitious, but the adrenaline is flowing as summer gives way to fall and E-Day approaches.

Obviously, we want to call the outcomes correctly, but the goal is also to bring some tasty tidbits about the political geography and demography we’re dealing with. An enormous quantity of hours has been spent assembling a database of present and historical facts (ok, sometimes it’s more like trivia) to inform our race ratings and make for interesting reading. I’m optimistic that there’s something we can bring to the table for a diverse group of readers, from those with a casual interest in elections to the junkies who have their own strong opinions about how things will turn out on any given early-November Tuesday.

So update your bookmarks, kids: https://withinthemargin.wordpress.com. We look forward to hearing from you.