Good golly, Miss Molly! I was finalist for Ivins' honor

As a longtime fan of Molly Ivins, it was a thrill to learn that I was one of six finalists for the first MOLLY journalism prize, named in honor of the writer who died last year and given by her beloved Texas Observer. We put a story up about it today at E&P, and others also covered it. I was honored for four columns I wrote for E&P on issues surrounding Iraq soldiers or vets -- three of them appear in my new Iraq/media book.

The awards dinner is tonight in Austin and I am here to say that I did NOT win, but as they say, it was great to just be nominated, considering the woman behind the award. My wife Barbara was one of the last people to interview her, just before she died, and Molly said then that she had decided not to write about any other subject beyond Iraq until the war ended. So, sadly, had she lived, she would still be sticking to that subject today. I am proud to carry on that work in my own way.