You can replay the livechat with me and Sun Journal editors Tony Ronzio and Scott Thistle here.

We discussed a bunch of topics, including the 2010 gubernatorial race, the political demographics of Lewiston, the respective political futures of Hannah Pingree and John Frary, and Sen. Damon's equal marriage bill.

On that issue, I asked Ronzio whether the Sun Journal would be joining the Portland Press Herald and the Bangor Daily News in endorsing same-sex marriage. This was his response:

We've advocated for respectful debate on it, without one way or the other. No decision yet, but one will come sooner than later.

This sounds interesting:

Please join Sun Journal Editorial Page Editor Anthony Ronzio and political blogger Mike Tipping for a live, online chat at noon Monday, March 30, on sunjournal.com.

Tipping blogs about Maine politics at Mainepolitics.net and on Downeast.com's "The Tipping Point." They'll talk about the 2010 gubernatorial race, the State of the State, Gov. John Baldacci's new haircut and anything else readers want to chat about.

Everything, as always, is on the table. And no registration is required.

The last few weeks have been one of the craziest stretches of time in my life. I've had finals, the holidays, a job search and a 600-mile move and I'm just starting to get adjusted to my new home of South Portland. In the midst of this, the blogging on this site has become a bit anemic. I hope to get back to a more regular posting schedule soon.

My new job, which I began just a couple days ago, is Communications Coordinator for the Maine People's Alliance and the Maine People's Resource Center. I'll be working on a variety of issues and campaigns, but my main focus right now is editing and publishing the Citizen's Guide to the 124th Maine Legislature. I'm learning a lot of new things about Maine's legislators in the process, some of which I'll be sure to share here.

I've always had political and philosophical leanings that have informed my writing, but now I'll have more practical interests as well, as the organization I work for is directly involved in a wide swath of progressive issues in Maine. Be sure keep my potential biases in mind as you read the blog.

I've got a lot going on at the moment, so posting will be sparse to nonexistent for at least the next week or so. Subscribe to the RSS feed to be notified of new content.

Think you know what's going to happen when the polls close on Tuesday?

Click here to make a prediction. The winner will be announced on Wednesday.

Looks like the blog got two mentions in the Portland Phoenix this week, an honor usually reserved for hot new ska bands.

The first is the Diamon column. The second is in this piece on the differences between television and blog coverage of the Sarah Palin rally.

As other Maine bloggers, journalists and activists head to Denver for the Democratic National Convention, I'll be in Bangor enjoying the folk festival.

That doesn't mean, however, that you can't find the best Maine DNCC coverage right here. Or, more specifically, a little to the right of here in the sidebar. There you'll find the MP Democratic Convention aggregator, which will update every 15 minutes and link to content from Mainers who are actually there, including:

Gerald - TMB
Jessica Alaimo - PolitickerME
Crazy Eddie - TMB
Tracie Reed - Delegate
Craig Hickman - Delegate

MPBN reporter Barbara Cariddi promises to have a blog soon as well.

If you prefer an html page version of the feed, click here.

The senate piece made the front page at DailyKos, can't ask for a much higher traffic hit than that.

OK, Down East Magazine isn't quite "The Man", but I'm sure it's on his reading list.

Today I wrote my inaugural post for my new weekly blog at Down East, "The Tipping Point". This week I take a more in-depth look at the BIW naval contracts issue as well as note some of the political happenings that occurred over the last few days.

I'm still working out the format of the blog, but expect something new every week right here.

Thanks to Al Diamon for the plug.

Now, “Maine Politics” is back, and it’s as good as ever. Tipping’s take on how GOP U.S. Sen. Susan Collins stole the news-coverage thunder from Democratic challenger Tom Allen on recent endorsements by education groups is not only astute about politics, but sharp on the media angle, as well.

Hi, I'm Mike Tipping and I write the blog.

I started Maine Politics in January, 2005 and wrote regularly for about a year before my job got in the way (you can access the old archives here). I restarted the blog at its present location in July of 2008.

I also write a weekly online column for Down East Magazine. I work as Communications Coordinator for the Maine People's Alliance and the Maine People's Resource Center.

You can read a profile of MP by political columnist Al Diamon here.

The website runs on Drupal 6 and a custom theme.

Feel free to drop me a line.