I’m turning 40 today, and to mark the occasion I have compiled a list of 40 bloggers I like to read who have hit the same milestone. They are alphabetized by name or handle after the jump.

You’ll recognize many of the names, but probably not all of them. My goal was not to compile a list of 40 high-traffic bloggers.

I have a special appreciation for state bloggers because of all the time I spend writing at Bleeding Heartland. My birthday wish is that this diary will encourage you to get active on the progressive blogs in your city or state.

I apologize in advance to all the talented “older and wiser” bloggers I didn’t have room to mention.

A Siegel. I’m active with several non-profit groups that work on energy issues, and A Siegel is one of the best energy bloggers around. His own blog is Get Energy Smart! NOW!!! He cross-posts some of his work at other places, including Huffington Post and Daily Kos.

John Aravosis. The founder and editor of AMERICAblog has not only broken major stories (remember Jeff Gannon?) but has achieved more as an activist in the last few years than most of us will accomplish in our whole lives.

Jerome Armstrong. The “blogfather” created MyDD and co-authored “Crashing the Gate” with Markos Moulitsas. Thanks to Jerome, MyDD was the only major political blog that allowed advocates for six different Democratic presidential candidates to post regularly on the front page during 2007 and early 2008. (Full disclosure: I was one of two Edwards advocates in this “candidate blogger” series and have continued to post at MyDD.) Jerome attended my precinct caucus in January 2008 and is one of the few Deaniacs I’ve met who is also a big fan of the Iowa caucus system.

Asinum Asinus Fricat. With AAF you get two bloggers for the price of one. If you like salivating, check out this professional chef’s cooking diaries. If you like being terrified, read his food safety or water diaries. His writing is found on the front page of La Vida Locavore or in the diary sections of Daily Kos and Progressive Blue.

Benny. I “got to know” Benny as a fellow John Edwards supporter and sensible commenter on various national blogs during the presidential campaign. Benny’s World covers a range of topics and still posts occasional Edwards-related news.

Big Tent Democrat. It seems that people either love the blogger formerly known as Armando or hate him. He has a strong voice that I enjoy reading at Talk Left, even when I disagree with him.

Meteor Blades. If all Meteor Blades ever wrote were the Green Diary Rescues, that would have been enough to secure his spot on this list. But of course this Daily Kos old-timer (user ID 6!) writes well about so many things.

Mark Blumenthal. The onetime “Mystery Pollster” is now blogger, editor and publisher at Pollster.com.  

BruceMcF. He blogs at Burning the Midnight Oil, which you should bookmark if you care about economic policy, energy independence or high-speed rail. BruceMcF cross-posts some of his work at Daily Kos, The Economic Populist, Progressive Blue, My Left Wing, Congress Matters, and Docudharma.

Jude Nagurney Camwell. She is a wise and compassionate voice from the “religious left” at The Iddybud Journal. On national blogs you may see her commenting as iddybud.  

carnacki. If you enjoy the “Top Comments” or “Got a Happy Story?” diaries at Daily Kos, you owe carnacki a thank-you. He’s not at DKos as often as he used to be because he is committed to building the progressive movement in his home state at West Virginia Blue.

John Deeth. Based in Iowa City, Deeth covers local, state and national politics at his self-named blog. Some of you may also appreciate his geeky Linux posts and occasional reflections on classic albums from the 1970s and 1980s.

dengre. Dennis Greenia, aka dengre, puts incredible commitment and research into his diaries, particularly those about the plight of Saipan workers and the web of corruption relating to Jack Abramoff.

Devilstower. He covers a wide range of topics, but the posts on environmental issues are among my favorites. I found out while researching this diary that Devilstower has written a bunch of sci-fi and fantasy novels too.

digby. Obviously.

DrSteveB. I first noticed DrSteveB’s “Demographic Tuesday” community-building diaries at Daily Kos. Later he became one of my favorite bloggers on health care.

Feral Cat. Diane Kamp used to be MontanaMaven at Daily Kos, but lately she’s been writing more as Feral Cat at TPM Cafe. In real life, she has a weekly talk radio show called “Democracy’s Edge,” which livestreams from this Bozeman-based radio station. As if that weren’t enough, she is also “Queen of the Dialect Coaches” in Hollywood.

fladem. Great commenter and occasional diarist at Open Left, Daily Kos, and MyDD.

Glenn Greenwald. Bringing Greenwald’s “Unclaimed Territory” blog over to Salon was one of the best decisions that site’s editors ever made.

Jane Hamsher. She’s posted at many blogs but is best-known as the founder of the outstanding collaborative effort Firedoglake.

Aldon Hynes. I don’t know of anyone who understands social media better than Aldon, and he covers many other topics too at Orient Lodge.

Kagro X/David Waldman. Before he became a Daily Kos front-pager, Kagro X was one of very few diarists I used to recommend immediately without reading. Kagro’s exhaustively detailed series on the filibuster was the inspiration for my nine-part series on the Iowa caucus system. In case you didn’t know, he now has his own blog, Congress Matters.

kid oakland/Paul Delehanty. Technically, kid may still be 39; I don’t know when his birthday is. If he’s not 40 today, he will be soon enough. I admire his activism and organizing work, both in the netroots and in the real world. He walked the 50-state strategy walk last year, leaving the comfortable deep-blue Bay Area to blog in the Nebraska trenches for Scott Kleeb’s Senate campaign. I also appreciate that in the worst days of the primary wars at Daily Kos, kid oakland kept trying to channel Obama supporters’ energy into something constructive. His home base is k/o, but he also posts occasionally at national blogs and Calitics.

Howie Klein. Howie figured out sooner than most bloggers that the Blue Dogs are often not our friends. He founded Down With Tyranny!, which is always a good read. You can sometimes find him at other blogs, including Huffington Post and Firedoglake.

David Kowalski. I enjoy reading his work at Open Left and Swing State Project.

Paul Krugman. He is right about most things most of the time, and he earned my eternal gratitude for being unafraid to criticize the Bush administration in his New York Times columns way back in 2002 and 2003.

Charles Lemos. I was not familiar with the By the Fault blog until Charles started writing at MyDD a few months ago. I have enjoyed his commentaries on U.S. and foreign politics.

Josh Marshall. He slipped in under the wire by turning 40 last month. I’ve been reading Talking Points Memo for a long time, and Josh deserves all his A-list blogger fame and fortune. He won the Polk Award for Legal Reporting for his coverage of the U.S. attorney scandal and should have won a Pulitzer too.  

noneed4thneed. A second-grade teacher in Marshalltown, noneed4thneed blogs at Century of the Common Iowan and at the Iowa progressive community blog Bleeding Heartland. His blog handle comes from Dr. Seuss’s book The Lorax, in case you were wondering. CORRECTION: I was misled by an inaccurate Washington Post article published before the Iowa caucuses. noneed4thneed is far younger than 40! I’m leaving him in the diary anyway.

noweasels. I enjoy almost everything noweasels writes, with the exception of her contributions to the IGTNT series. Those diaries are also important and well-written, but usually I can only manage a drive-by rec.

nyceve. Her health care diaries give new meaning to the expression, “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.”

philgoblue. I first got to know philgoblue at Daily Kos, where he was a frequent commenter and diarist supporting John Edwards. Based in Grand Rapids, he created the West Michigan Rising blog a little more than a year ago. It has to be the best progressive community blog focusing on any one region of a state. The only thing I dislike about West Michigan Rising is that going there reminds me of how much stronger the Iowa Democratic blogosphere could be.

plf515. Although I don’t claim to understand all of his diaries, I know enough to know that plf515 should be making the Daily Kos recommended list consistently. His Daily Kos University linkfests do a great service to the community.

RDemocrat. A lot of bloggers like the concept of the 50-state strategy, but few do the hard work of promoting progressive ideals and good Democrats in hostile territory. RDemocrat posts regularly at the Kentucky blog Hillbilly Report and also at national blogs including Progressive Blue and Daily Kos. CORRECTION: It turns out RDemocrat is just shy of 40–my bad!

Sara Robinson. I became familiar with “Mrs. Robinson” as a consistent voice of reason on the comment threads at Steve Gilliard’s News Blog. Much later I realized that she wrote for Orcinus. She was a co-founder of the Group News Blog and writes at other places too, including AlterNet. UPDATE: Sara’s current blog home is OurFuture.org

Paul Rosenberg. He wasn’t the reason I started reading Open Left, but he’s one of the reasons I keep going back there.

Bob Somerby. The Daily Howler was one of the first blogs I started reading lo these many years ago, before MyDD or Daily Kos existed. You may not always agree with Somerby, but you won’t be bored while reading his blog.

Pam Spaulding. Every time I stop by the community blog Pam’s House Blend, I remember that I need to stop there more often. Pam’s writing can be found at various other blogs as well.

TomP. TomP used to be a tireless advocate for John Edwards, but issues are bigger for him than any one candidate or campaign. He has a particular interest in workers’ rights.

Lynda Waddington. Lynda founded the Iowa women’s blog Essential Estrogen and also writes for Iowa Independent.

That’s 40 good bloggers over 40, but before I close out this diary, I want to mention a few writers who haven’t posted much in recent months. I’d love to see them blogging again soon.

2laneIA

Iowa Guy

Elizabeth Edwards

Use this thread to talk about your favorite bloggers of a certain age, but please do not annoy the birthday girl by complaining that I left out Andrew Sullivan.

I don’t care that he held George Bush accountable for torture, reluctantly endorsed John Kerry, enthusiastically supported Barack Obama, or went after Sarah Palin like a pitbull. No conservative who thinks Ronald Reagan was a good president and The Bell Curve is good scholarship will ever make my “best bloggers” list.

Also, color me unimpressed by Sullivan’s sort-of-apology for using the national tragedy of 9/11 as a stick to beat the American left. (More on that disgraceful body of work here and here.) The spring chicken Atrios is absolutely right about the guy in my opinion.

I look forward to reading your comments.

UPDATE: Thanks for the well-wishes. Commenters have reminded me of so many other good bloggers over 40, including Hilzoy, Bill in Portland Maine, rserven, teacherken, One Pissed Off Liberal, and maybe Tbogg, Jerome a Paris and bonddad (we’re not sure about their ages). I could have written a diary on 80 good bloggers over 40.