Mental Health Break

Back in early December, I made a decision to go "balls-to-the-wall" in campaign-blogging. Back then, I vaguely assumed the whole thing would be over about a month ago. Ahem. For a blogger, things can be even more insane than for normal people in a campaign like this: we don't just absorb all this stuff on a minute by minute basis, we try to figure it out with instant wisdom and some of us write 200 - 300 posts a week 12 to 14 hours a day, weekends included. At least that what this blog has tried to do. The campaign, meanwhile, as George Packer just pointed out, has recently entered a bit of a surreally vote-free period where we are all in danger of disappearing up a succession of other people's posteriors and our own.

So I'm taking my own mental health break for a week or so to get some perspective on the whole thing, and remember what it's like not to have an opinion every 23 minutes. Patrick Appel, my invaluable assistant, and master web-researcher/reader/reporter will be blogging in my stead (he also co-guest-blogged on my last break). Patrick knows the Dish as well as anyone apart from myself, reads and catches the emails I miss, and finds some of the weirdest, smartest stuff online there is. If you keep sending him links and emails and photos, he'll keep providing as much campaign crack and other web-goodies as he can. (I'm a little nervous I'll be busted and you won't notice much of a difference, in fact). If withdrawal symptoms set in, my colleagues Matt, Ross, Megan, Ambers, Clive, Jim, Reihan and Graeme are at your service. Of course, if some major major stuff happens, I may post a couple of times, and I'm renowned for blog-break relapses. My decision to throw in the towel completely a few years ago lasted three days or so. But I'm trying hard this time for a brief blog-sabbatical.

I'll be back in a little over a week - well in time for the weeks before Pennsylvania. See you then and thanks again for reading.