In July 2003, the Austin American-Statesman dipped its toe into the blogging waters with its XL Blogs, covering pop culture, and with Lasso, a take on Texas politics from Bill Bishop. Bishop admitted he didn’t know exactly what he was getting himself into, but his blog posts had a humanistic take on current events that usually took the side of the common man.

Out of his posts sprung a series of articles for the newspaper titled “The Great Divide,” analyzing the growing division between the Democrats and Republicans in the United States, also covered in books like Thomas Frank’s “What’s The Matter With Kansas.” His series presaged the Red State/Blue State divisions that were highlighted in the electoral maps following the 2004 election.

Today Bishop announced that he’s leaving the blog business to write a book based on his “Great Divide” series. He left off with a post that strikes at the heart of the condo and real estate boom that Austin is now dealing with:

Two years ago when Lasso began posting entries, he wanted to write a story about the Magic Bridge, as some call it. Others nicknamed the little concrete structure over Blunn Creek the Giving Bridge. It