Happy Birthday, Kevin!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KEVIN!....Kevin turns 49 today, and I'm sure we can all appreciate the wisdom of age he brings to the Washington Monthly. I hope you'll join me in sending him congratulations on this happy day, and saying "thank you" for the top-notch blogging he does. And what better way to say thanks than to make a $49 donation to our fundraising drive today?

A few years ago, print magazines suddenly discovered this new land of opinion online, the blogosphere. Seemingly overnight, every magazine was attempting to turn their star reporters and veteran editors into the next big thing online. The Washington Monthly, however, had no big-name veterans on staff, so in what turned out to be the best default decision we've made in years, we looked toward bloggers who were already making a name for themselves.

A friend of the magazine suggested we look at Kevin's blog, Calpundit, and immediately we knew we had found the right match. His wonky curiosity fit perfectly with the Monthly's editorial sensibility, and we admired the same traits all of you expect from his blogging: his fairmindedness, vernacular clarity of writing, and the measured skepticism with which he reads the daily papers. And of course, the many charts and graphs.

So thank you, Kevin. We're grateful for your contribution and continually proud of the work you do.

And thank you, Kevin's readers. You've already contributed over $20,000 during pledge week, a truly phenomenal amount. If you haven't done so already, I hope you'll consider making a donation in appreciation of Kevin and help us reach our $40,000 goal. To make a donation, click on the thermometer over on the right to go to our contribution page, or just click here. You can donate via check, PayPal, or credit card.