SWGA Politics

2009 Top Stories: Most Viewed Issues

So far this week, we’ve looked at Bill’s, Tom’s, and my own most viewed posts of the year. Today, we turn our attention to the most viewed issues of 2009.

A couple of the issues here were actually surprising to me, though others have become a large part of what we write about here. Some issues peaked earlier in the year, but maintained enough views to earn a Top 10 spot on this countdown, while other issues started out slow and gained traction as the year wore on.

Without further ado, the Top 10 Most Viewed Issues on SWGAPolitics.com for 2009 were…
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Jeff’s Reflections on 2009

Wow. 2009 is just about over. We’ve seen quite a bit happen this year. We’ve seen one of the top 3 most powerful politicians in the State drop out of the GAGOV race under the auspices of his health, only to have the rumor come out later in the year that it was actually over a sex scandal. We saw another of the top 3 most powerful politicians in the State admit to attempting suicide, and fall from power with the revelation weeks later that he had threatened to beat his ex-wife. The chaos caused by that double whammy led to a near-total shakeup of the Republican leadership in the State House of Representatives. We’ve seen several constitutional officers announce their intentions to run for Governor of this State, including the Commissioner of Insurance, the Secretary of State, and the Attorney General. We’ve seen several members of the General Assembly announce plans to run for various statewide offices.

In the 2009 session of the General Assembly, we saw the influence of the Georgia Power lobby with the sweetheart deal whereby the General Assembly took on the role of the Public Service Commission and allowed Georgia Power to charge its customers for its profits on a facility that hasn’t even been built yet. We worked to prevent a blatant money-grab by the State in the form of a new “Super Speeder” law, but failed – and that law goes into effect Friday. We were able to stop a gross violation of privacy in the form of the Prescription Drug Monitoring Act, and we saw an epic battle between State Senators Preston Smith and David Shafer where Smith almost directly quoted George Orwell’s 1984 in speaking against the bill. I ran live blogs of both Crossover Day and Sine Die, and this is something I hope to be able to continue to do, as it was an absolutely crazy yet amazing experience.
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2009 Top Stories: Jeff’s Most Viewed

Continuing with our 2009-closing Most Viewed series, here is the list of my own most viewed stories…

10. Deal. Real. Crook.
9. Could This Be The Beginning Of The End For The Ox?
8. Casey Cagle, ‘Monica Lewinsky’, and John Oxendine
7. SWGAPolitics.com Interview with Austin Scott, Part 2: Democratic Candidates and The Question
6. (Mike Keown vs Lee Ferrell) vs Sanford Bishop
Read More …

2009 Top Stories: Tom’s Most Viewed

For the last few days of 2009, we here at SWGAPolitics.com are taking a look back at the most viewed stories of 2009, as well as each author’s Top Stories from his perspective.

This morning, we find out what Tom’s Most Viewed Stories are…
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2009 Top Stories: The Introduction

I’ve seen at least a few blogs planning a 2009 Year in Review series for this week, and I liked the idea so I’m running with it.

So here’s my plan:

Today, this entry will be the 10 most viewed stories of 2009 from our newest author, Bill Waller.
Tomorrow, we will have the 10 most viewed stories of 2009 from SWGAPolitics.com co-owner Tom Knighton.
Weds, we will have my own 10 most viewed stories of 2009.
Thursday morning, we will show the 10 most viewed topics of 2009.
Thursday evening, we will show the SWGAPolitics.com authors’ Top 10 Stories of 2009.

Friday morning, we will begin discussing the SWGAPolitics.com 2010 Legislative Agenda, the issues that we as SWGAPolitics.com feel the General Assembly needs to act on during the 2010 session.

Without further ado, Bill Waller’s Top 10 Most Viewed Stories of 2009:
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