As we continue to get prepared for the big news that's next -- and the whispers therein -- here at Early Returns we need to make something clear. This blog -- which we've been running since the presidential election two years ago and will debut a new look and some cool gizmos this Monday -- couldn't exist without a bunch of others around Pittsburgh and the state. We read them, we post links to them and we recognize the essential place they have in political discourse these days.

When ER2 launches Monday

it will have a revamped blogroll with a lot of our well-known favorites, as well as some new ones that we like to read locally and state and nationwide. It isn't exhaustive, due to space limitations, but we hope you'll discover some things you like -- or even don't like, and will want to respond to by planting a Yard Sign.

We plan on plucking the headlines from fellow blogs every few days to highlight their latest posts, and will rotate them according to no scientific method whatsoever. See you there March 22.

-- Timothy McNulty