The Chicago Tribune has a fairly new blog called The Swamp, which contains news analysis from the Washington bureau of the Trib. As opposed to the editorial board over there, The Swamp seems to be a bi-partisan place to get the inside scoop on what’s happening, both in Washington politics and the Chicago/Illinois-related politicians that work there. For those so inclined, you can comment on these stories as well. Registration for the Tribune is free.

I know that some people like to rejoice in the fact that newspaper circulation is down, as if this means people aren’t reading them anymore, because they are so “out of touch,” but when it’s free on the web, why would anyone start a new subscription? I believe that, if anything, readership of newspapers like the Tribune are only increased by being on the internet, even if their actual print edition circulation is going down. I guess I don’t believe that blogs as a whole will replace newspapers so much as they will work in tandem with them. That’s a good thing, I say (as I type on the Chicago Metblog).

The Chicago Sun-Times, by the way, has a god-awful website. I would like to break the habit of getting the actual Sun-Times delivered to me, but it doesn’t cost that much anyway, so I’m still kicking it old school, yo.