God, I thought I had written my last Celia post. But then the News Journal had to go publish this:
Delaware Grapevine — the first and savviest of Delaware’s political blogs — posted a goodbye message that stunned those with an interest in state politics, from elected officials to party faithful to political dabblers.
Savviest? Stunned? Party faithful?
You all know our opinion on her opinions and reporting. I don’t think “stunned” is the appropriate adjective to my reaction (her blog as been sputtering the entire summer, with long gaps between posts, and a long vacation just prior to her announcement). And which party’s faithful are we talking about? For I thought Celia had no party. I thought she was an moderate independent, hence the “objectivity” of her posts. So which party is sad to see her go?
Well, the article answers that for us.
Republican Mike Castle, who was governor for two terms and has been the state’s lone member of the U.S. House of Representatives since 1993, said he is a regular reader who was surprised to learn late Friday afternoon that the site was gone.
He praised the work of its lone author, Celia Cohen, a former political writer for The News Journal who started the Grapevine in 2002.
“I have tremendous respect for Celia,” Castle said. “I feel that she is fair, she’s respected, she’s diligent, and she’s truthful in her manner of reporting. As somebody involved in the political process, she usually had the story first and right, and instead of reading things I already knew, I would read things I didn’t know. I bet any elected official in the state would say that, Republican or Democrat.”
Jason Scott, were he not on vacation right now and were he to read that quote, I fear he would suffer a stroke or a heart attack. But you got me, and I am a little more … ahem… diplomatic. There is no doubt as a former News Journal political writer that Celia Cohen was connected and could get scoops, as commenter and former Carper staffer Brian Selander points out in the article. We thought she was too connected, and it affected her bias.
Celia was no doubt the first in the Delaware political blogosphere. And her connections gave her scoops over and above what novice bloggers could get. And that gave her a leg up on the competition for many years. But now we have Dana Garrett at Delaware Watch, Nancy Willing at the Delaware Way, Mike Matthews at Down With Absolutes, Tom Noyes at Tommywonk, my great colleagues here at Delaware Liberal, and on the other side, Dave Anderson at Delaware Politics, Steve Newton and Tyler Nixon at Delaware Libertarian, Hube at the Colossus of Rhodey.
“When she started Grapevine, she was the only person outside the news organizations who could provide what she was providing — that kind of reporting,” said Tom Noyes, who writes the Tommywonk blog, is an occasional contributor to Delaware Liberal, and will blog from the floor of the Democratic National Convention later this month.
“Now, with all the blogs, there are quite a few places to go for news outside the news organizations. She has been a unique voice and certainly has been required reading for anybody in politics,” he said.
Celia was a trailblazer for the Delaware blogosphere, and perhaps at viewing at the illustrious list of names and blogs above, she felt her time had passed, or her goals realized. Either way, I congratulate Celia on her retirement.