A few days ago on the blog - the "This Week in Bacon" edition to be exact - I made mention that things have been picking up around the NXT Desk and that I was going to be working on some projects.

Well I guess this is as good a time as any to say it: I'm getting into politics.

Starting this week I'm shifting some of my work a bit to cover the fall election. Specifically I am going to be working on the Congressional race between Republican Charlie Summers and Democrat Chellie Pingree to take over Democratic Congressman Tom Allen's seat in the U.S. House.

You're already asking yourself, why? You're saying to yourself "Justin, you're a man comfortable talking about pop culture, Super Science, obscure comic book references and movies. Not to mention bacon. Why would you hitch yourself to that business?"

Well, as most of you know by now we're not exactly running at full strength here at Press Herald Plaza. We've lost some people and as a result things are getting shuffled a bit once again.

I'm not completely without politics experience, I've been covering state legislative races since I started my internship with the Blethen papers in 2002. (You'll remember that was the last time Pingree ran for office.)

So what does this mean? Well it means more time writing about health care, taxes, foreign policy, the war and the economy. It also means I'll be producing some videos on the local election and possibly on issues for the presidential race.
I'll also be taking part in two joint candidates debates held by the Press Herald and WMTW next month. (You may recall I have some experience with political debates.)

(I may also be doing some blogging. I've been told our politics blog is coming back online very soon.)

As for the NXT Desk, things may get a little sporadic around here, including the Monday columns. This does not mean things are getting shut down, just a little less frequent updates. It could be an opportunity for more guest blogs, so I'll let you know about that.

Don't worry. We'll keep the lights on and all of the standards will still be intact - The Weekend, The Scanner, Press Play, This Week in Bacon, and maybe a few others.

In the meantime if you've got questions you'd like to see the candidates answer, or stories you haven't seen reported, you can e-mail me or drop a note in the comments.

UPDATE

I'll be traveling in style around Southern Maine. Look for the NXT "Elexpress 9000" on the campaign trail the next two months! Designed in-house by Jeff Woodbury.
This is a true road warrior not to be messed with, a serious beast of high-speed journalism. It has rotary phones, no Wi-Fi, a mojo wire and a cassette player. It is not a hybrid.

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